


After the Feudal Era

by ChibiMethos



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-01
Updated: 2014-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-06 23:59:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 24,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1113050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiMethos/pseuds/ChibiMethos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Demons have adapted to the changes of life in the modern word, but their population is dangerously low. One determined dragoness is trying to help the most stubborn man she knows find his true love.</p><p>This is an old story of mine, from 2007</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

#### 

_Disclaimer: Everything Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi. They are used gently and will be returned unharmed. The origional charaters are mine. Place names are used ficticiously._

_2014, Japan_

_After the Feudal Era, there were awakenings the world over, with new technology, science and a rebirth of the great arts. We demons had no choice but to assimilate to the human world. Those of us that could take on a human form were easily able to blend in and amass great wealth. Now in modern times, we’ve become famous as business people, actors and professors. We didn’t set out to be famous, but what we do and the fact that humans like to know about those with wealth—well . . . the spot light was thrust upon us. We have to be even more careful now than before, but since humans no longer as a whole believe in the super or preternatural, we’re actually safer now than ever before._

_As for the rest, the lesser demons that can’t assume human form, most of them were too specialized to survive, but a few have managed, under the patronage of those of us who do blend in. The hanyous, who were neither human nor demon and were detested by both races, were slaughtered. After the battle of Sekigahara, there was a mass hunt and cull of hanyous. Inuyasha and the bat demoness Shiori were speared because they were the only heirs to two nearly extinct tribes._

_Before all the blood was dry or hands washed, the demon lords established a Council to lay down laws for us to follow and to organize our greatly depleted numbers. Ranks were voted into place. The highest, Alpha, were permanent members of the Council, and their heirs after them. The Beta_ _s were middle and lower middle ranking princes such as Kouga. The main population stayed as they were, though some of them have as much or in some cases more money than their Alpha lords. Only one demon was given the rank of Omega and his name was never to be spoken. Naraku nearly exposed us to the world with his foolishness, and we will never forget it. He’s been dead for over 500 years and is still spoken of with a hush and a derisive sneer._

_One of the laws enacted by the Council that almost didn’t pass, disallows anymore hanyou births among our numbers. There are a few accidental pregnancies, but they are immediately contained with the rapid, silent efficiency of an Ebola decontamination team. The mother is given a sedative, and the pregnancy is terminated before she knows she’s with child. As long as the humans don’t know we’re here, we will survive._

_Mating is hard and getting harder as our numbers have begun to dwindle. The Alphas live the longest, which is why they can rule, but they must have Alpha mates. Once every 10 years, the Demon Council meets, bringing the whole community together. They meet to pass new laws, plan matches,_ _and perform the formal Mating Ceremonies. New heirs are presented; old rivalries are revived_ _, and occasionally_ _, put to rest._

_Unfortunately, at this, our 40th Council meeting, there will only be one heir presented, no matings and none to plan. We are dying and the Council must see that. I have to do something._

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         From the diary of the

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      dragon Demoness, Jae-Hwa O

 

 

#### 


	2. Chapter 2

   Lord Sesshomaru sat in the grand ball room cum Council Chamber of the Hyatt hotel, doodling on his notepad. The Council meeting had been going on for hours. There was a motion presented on lowering the official mating age, but it had been unanimously voted down. Other than that, there was nothing going on he cared about, not that he cared about mating age. He was long past his puberty, and even then hadn’t given in to his baser instincts to mate. His father, InuTaisho had reluctantly, at his son’s request locked him in his room and for 3 days. Sesshomaru meditated, fasted and prowled the confining space, chosen because it was of a size to accommodate his human form only.  
  
     After that, his yearly desire to mate was easily and firmly kept under control, like everything else in his life. InuTaisho had tried to convince Sesshomaru what he was doing wasn’t wise. But after Izayoi became pregnant, Sesshomaru redoubled his efforts to keep himself under control. Of course, that was 800 years ago plus. These days, there weren’t enough females around to trigger a response from him and human females were always in season, so his senses filtered it out like white noise.  
  
     Sesshomaru turned a page and began drawing a female dog demoness with long, wavy hair and huge boobs. Not that that was his thing, but dammit this meeting was boring his fangs off! As a senior member of the Council, though he may want to, Sesshomaru couldn’t just get up and walk out.  
  
     To his left, sat the beautiful dragon demoness Jae-Hwa O, from Korea. Her shimmery, metallic silk dress gave a tantalizing glimpse of her colours in her true form. Jae-Hwa was one of the few Alpha status females who were still unmated. A potential mate had been found for her, but at the moment, he was still little, only 5. His parents were Beta Class, but the power and control their son displayed was astonishing, moving him to Alpha status. When he was a little older, they would be engaged, and when the boy came of age, mated.  
  
     Jae-Hwa glanced at Sesshomaru’s paper as the dog demoness’s lithe form emerged from his pencil. She was lying on her stomach, her generous bottom presented to the viewer, with a distinctly ‘come hither’ look in her eyes. Jae-Hwa quirked her eyebrow at her friend. He didn’t really smile, but a fang slid out over his bottom lip.  
  
     “For shame,” Jae-Hwa hissed, suppressing a giggle. The shrug she was giving was barely perceptible under his tailored polo shirt. Jae-Hwa sighed. She liked the child she was to mate. He was little and sweet, but Sesshomaru was a fully mature demon that knew his way around a woman.  
  
     ‘Too bad he’s not interested. We could have some fun.’ She glanced down at the paper again. The demoness’s appallingly short . . .dress? was being forced over her generous hips by her bottom and her huge breasts. Her other . . .assets were on vulgar display, thick white blobs leaked out of her and ran down her thighs. Jae-Hwa’s hand flashed across the table and shredded the drawing.  
  
     “You’re being a pig,” she hissed. This time, he chuckled softly and turned to a new page. No-one in the room had even noticed their little altercation. The delegates were either wandering in and out, under the pretense of needing the bathroom, or getting more coffee, so they really would need the bathroom. The elderly Southern Lord, Yasahiro, had had the floor for the last 45 minutes and everyone would be hard pressed to tell you what the old curmudgeon was droning on about. Jae-Hwa was two seconds from screaming. She stood up.  
  
     “Thank you, Yasahiro-sama, for that . . . fascinating dissertation. Yasahiro-sama, everyone.”  
  
     The applause at his departure from the podium was loud enough to have half the room’s ears ringing.  
  
     “I motion for a 2 hour lunch recess,” Jae-Hwa looked around the room.  
  
     “Second!” Sesshomaru didn’t even look up.  
  
     “The motioned has been seconded. I move to pass.” The whole room fled and Jae-Hwa sat back down. “Sessho-kun, you need to come back this afternoon. I think it will be better than this morning.”  
  
     “As long as Yasahiro stays away from the mike, these meetings are fine.”  
  
     “Sessho-kun, he’s our most honoured and elder statesman.”  
  
     “He’s an old fuddy-duddy who can’t get over himself and hates everything. He hates females, he hates children, he hates technology. He hates fast food, he hates slow food. He hates his mate, his own children, his grandchildren, his daughters-in-law. If I ever get like that, I’m giving you permission right now to kill me, Jae-Hwa O. I mean it; ambush me and cut off my head.”  
  
     Jae-Hwa followed the taller demon out of the hotel to the Chinese restaurant around the corner. “We’ll, let’s hope you never get to that point.”  
  
     “I’m not saying I will, but just in case.” He opened the door for Jae-Hwa and pulled out his cell phone. “Jaken, update me.”  
  
***  
  
     After lunch, Jae-Hwa made sure she was the first with the floor.  
  
     “Mina-sama, I hope everyone have a good lunch and is ready to move on. Now, many of you will likely disagree with me, Sesshomaru-sama here among the first and most ardent. But please, open your minds and try to hear me out.” She paused and surveyed the room. All eyes were on her, including Sesshomaru’s.  
  
     “Long ago, our ancestors and humans lived in harmony. Occasionally, they would express this . . . harmony physically, and the end result would be a hanyou—”  
  
     The room erupted and Jae-Hwa waited patiently for the noise to die down. Sesshomaru resumed doodling. Finally, order was restored, and Jae-Hwa continued.  
  
     “I know many of you have a heavy animosity towards hanyous, but think for a moment. Our numbers of young are decreasing at an alarming rate. I myself have been ready to mate and have a family for the last 200 years. Finally, a suitable Alpha class dragon mate has been found for me and I am eternally grateful. But he is currently 5 years old, hardly more than an infant by human standards. He won’t be ready for us to mate for another 50 years. He’ll just be starting puberty, but we dare not wait much longer than that. I have waited a long time, and now must wait still longer, but I like him and so I shall be patient.”  
  
     She took a breath and was pleased to see that everyone was still listening to her.  
  
     “But, how many of us can’t wait 300 years or have been, like Sesshomaru-sama, waiting much, much longer? He has been alone for over 1,000 years. When was the last Alpha inu bitch born?”  
  
     Jae-Hwa waited, but no-one answered, so she turned to the Inu Lord. “Sesshomaru-sama, I know that you have been alone so long, the idea of a mate must seem . . . odd to you. But it is past the time you set up your nursery.” Jae-Hwa turned back to the room at large.  
  
     “We cannot wait another 2,000 years before an Alpha bitch is potentially born, plus all the years she’d need to grow up. Inus age slower that all of us. But there is an option.”  
  
     Sesshomaru began to sense where she was going. “Jae-Hwa—”  
  
     “Let me finish. A human woman, of a pure Miko bloodline can mate into the Inu bloodline. If the miko has true power, the children from such a union will be—”  
  
      “Filthy hanyous.” Sesshomaru slammed his pen down. “Forget it! Have I not had to deal with enough over the stain of human blood in my family?”  
  
      “You’re wrong, Sesshomaru.” Jae-Hwa kept talking as if he hadn’t spoken. “They will, as is her will, become either full demons or humans.”  
  
      A murmur rippled through the room. Jae-Hwa went on. “She could burn away any trace of either blood line before they could mature.”  
  
     Sesshomaru glared daggers at her. “This is ridiculous, Jae-Hwa. Desist!”  
  
     “It is indeed the truth, my most fetching liege lord.”  
  
     “TaiRyuu Jae-Hwa, even if it were true and Sesshomaru-sama consented to take her to his bed, where would such a powerful miko be found in this day and age?” The handsome kitsune who rose to speak was at best equal to a knight with one small holding.  
  
     “Mikos are little more than figureheads today, with no power. Besides, they are taught from very young that we’re evil, if they know of us at all. They despise and dismiss us as stories. If a mate must be found for Sesshomaru-sama, why not let her be chosen from among those of us that are kin-cousins to the tai-inu.”  
  
     There was a flutter of agreement. Jae-Hwa shook her head.  
  
     “Gomen-ne, Jin-kun. But kitsune are closer kin-cousins to weasels that inus. Besides, there hasn’t been an Alpha female among the kitsune for 900 years.”  
  
      Sesshomaru’s annoyance was obviously blazed across his face. His stripes were beginning to form jagged slashes across his cheeks, and his eyes were bleeding red.  
  
     “Whether I find a mate or not should be irrelevant to this Council! I want this perverse discussion to end now!”  
  
     There was a long tense silence, then Kouga stood up.  
  
     “Forgive me, Sesshomaru-sama, but this is our concern. Our numbers are getting dangerously low. We have long lives, but we are not truly immortal. Maybe we should consider looking outside our self-imposed boundaries—”  
  
     “ENOUGH!” Sesshomaru stood and went to the door. “This Sesshomaru does not want or need a mate. I walk the path of supreme conquest! There is no room for this nonsense on that path.” He turned to Jae-Hwa.  
  
     “And I will not follow my father’s weakness, or that of my worthless half-brother! Humans may have us when it comes to numbers, but there is no way I will allow my person to be . . . violated by a human!”  
  
     “Maybe,” Kouga said evenly. “You need to find a new path to walk.”  
  
     The conference room door slammed so hard behind him that several of the hunting prints on the wall crashed to the floor. Kouga sighed and sat back down beside Ayame.  
  
     “Ayame, I know for a fact that Kagome-chan traveled through time to the Sengoku-jidai. She came from this period. She survived the battle with Naraku, so I must assume she is still alive now. But where?”  
  
     Ayame shrugged. “The only people who would have even the faintest idea where to start looking would be Inuyasha and Shippou.”  
  
     Kouga huffed. “That doesn’t help. Inuyasha is in self-imposed exile, so no-one knows where he is, and when was the last time anyone even saw Shippou?”  
  
     The wolf sighed and looked over the Council chamber. The members were feverishly whispering back and forth about Jae-Hwa’s words and Sesshomaru’s childish outburst.  
  
     “I hate to say it, but Sesshomaru may end up eating his words. ‘I walk the path of supreme conquest.’” He mocked. “Foolishness.”  
  
     Ayame popped him on the hand with her notebook. “Stop it. I hope he does not. He is proud and greatly respected.”  
  
     “But was it not a wise human who said ‘pride goith before the fall’? He needs to come down a peg or two.”  
  
     Ayame shook her head at him. “Enough, Kouga. You may not like him, but he is one of the oldest demons left.”  
  
     “I know that. It still doesn’t make him right.” Kouga turned back to the senior members, who were now engaged in a heated, and increasingly louder debate.  
  
     “— I agree with Sesshomaru-sama. The hanyou eradication was necessary to clear the last impurities from our blood lines.”  
  
     “It was genocide!” Someone yelled from the back of the room. “You bastards killed my son! What could he have done?! He was four—!”  
  
     “—We weighed the overall good of the clans versus the needs of a few. It was a price worth paying,” Yasahiro intoned solemnly.  
  
     Jae-Hwa was getting annoyed. “All this, while tragic, is beside the point.” The room fell silent. “Like it or not, Sesshomaru-sama needs a mate before he gets much older.”  
  
     “He’s already a fanatic,” someone called out. “What demoness in her right mind would have him?”  
  
     This was greeted with raucous, derisive laughter. Jae-Hwa smiled tightly. ‘They aren’t listening to me. If the Inus die, what hope is left for the rest of us?’  
  
     The meeting broke up soon after with no resolution.  
  
***


	3. Chapter 3

      Sesshomaru left the room, trying to control his transformation. He was so angry with the Council, was especially furious with Jae-Hwa’s matchmaking, and vexed with himself for not having tighter control over his transformation. He leaned, panting quietly against the wall just outside the room, his head back.  
  
      The only miko who had the kind of power and strength Jae-Hwa described was his half-brother’s live miko, Kagome. She was a blip in his existence; there and gone in a second. He hadn’t really paid that much attention to her when she was there, but after she was gone . . . well, it was only then that the true scale of her power was obvious. She had killed Naraku and then simply vanished before the accolades were handed out.  
  
      Sesshomaru finally felt his breathing even out and moved away from the chamber door. He could hear shouting on the other side of the door. Jae-Hwa was correct on one account; he did need an heir and a mate. He wanted both; craved them. He was a pack animal, and being alone, while he had forced it to become second nature, it was a perversion of who and what he was. The solitude of his adult life was beginning to claw at him. He would one day have his heirs, but they must be pure. There were enough perversions of nature in his bloodline.  
  
      Down the hallway, he waited beside the elevators, wanting only to retreat to his room, lock the door, and regroup. Before World War II, he had kept a house in Tokyo, but anymore, the wilderness surrounding his Hokkaido home were what he preferred. He wished fervently he was there now, free to transform into his true form, and run and run for mile after mindless mile to clear his head.  
  
      The doors opened and a dozen or so children of various species spilled noisily into the lobby, shrinking and laughing and thoroughly enjoying themselves while their parents were forced to sit through the long tedious Council sessions. Sesshomaru quickly got into the car and the door shut immediately. He closed his eyes.  
  
      ‘Why is Jae-Hwa doing this to me? I am a Taiyoukai. My position demands that I be alone. But having a mate would make everything easier.’  
  
      There was always this little voice that kept trying to say things that made sense, but as usual, he squelched it and focused on the electronic panel on the wall as it counted the floors to 15. After an interminably long time, the car arrived at his floor, and he got off the elevator. A few minutes later, Sesshomaru was under the stinging spray of the shower, ruminating about his species. White inu and silver ones like himself and Inuyasha were rare. His mother was the last Alpha bitch, but she and InuTaisho didn’t like each other at all, and after Sesshomaru was born, they had separated and had no any other children, so he didn’t have any sisters or female cousins. Now that he thought about it, there were no females in his clan at all. He leaned his forehead against the cool tile of the shower wall.  
  
      ‘So I guess Jae-Hwa is right; I do need a mate. But from where? It’s not like we can conjure one fully formed from the earth.’  
  
      “Kagome—” Her name came unbidden to his lips. She was his half-brother’s miko and after 500 years, she was surely dead. He shut the water off.  
  
      ‘The Inu clan will die with me. Let the others argue over the division of my lands.’  
  
***


	4. Chapter 4

     Once she was though security at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, the tall Japanese woman sprinted down the boarding corridor, flashing her boarding pass at the man behind the counter.  
  
      “—Final boarding call for Flight 1520, Chicago to LAX—”  
  
      “I know, I know.” She finally made it down the catwalk to the plane that always seemed longer when she was in a hurry. There was a short line at the door of the plane, and she took a moment to smooth down her hair and take a few deep breaths to slow her heart rate. Finally, she was able to get on the plane and she turned left into First Class, found her seat and stored her carry-on bag under the seat. She plopped down and closed her eyes briefly.  
  
      ‘I made it. Gods of my ancestors, I can’t believe I over slept.’  
  
       The flight attendants were making their way to the back of the plane and one of them stopped beside the woman.  
  
      “Mrs. Thomas, I thought I saw your name on the passenger manifest. We might just was well hire you as much time as you spend in the air.”  
  
      Mrs. Thomas opened her eyes and smiled at a familiar face. “Hi, Kelly. I’m back again. I almost missed it this time.”  
  
      Kelly laughed. “Oh, no. Well, go to sleep, you’ve seen the ‘Show’ often enough. I’m working up here today, so I’ll wake you before we land.”  
  
      “Kelly, you are a saint among flight attendants.” They shared another laugh and Kelly moved away. Mrs. Thomas closed her eyes.  
  
      This trip was half business, half personal; she hadn’t been to Japan in 10 years.  
  
      ‘I wonder what Souta looks like now? And I can’t wait to see my new niece.’  
  
***  
  
      Kagome Thomas, née Higurashi had insisted on leaving Japan after she was returned from the battle with Naraku. One second she was crying into Sango’s arms with joy and relief and the next, she was sitting the courtyard of her family’s Tokyo temple, alone. The tears turned to sorrow, and she fainted. Her mother found her and she was rushed to the hospital.  
  
      Mentally, physically, emotionally; Kagome was exhausted. Against her doctors’ wishes, 18-year-old Kagome checked herself out of the hospital and went home. Against her mother’s wishes, Kagome sold several of the silk kimonos that she had bought in the Sengoku-jidai and used the money to enroll in a small state college in Kansas. It was in the middle of no-where — the town had a population at the height of the school year of 400— it was cheap, and they had high school equivalence and ESL[1] classes.  
  
      Once there, Kagome threw herself into her studies and had excelled. She was even able to secure a small scholarship that allowed her to transfer to the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. There, as a business major, she met James Thomas. James was friendly, shy and unassuming—everything Inuyasha wasn’t.  
  
      They had lunch together a few times and it turned out, the same English and Math classes. Lunch partners became late night study buddies and before long, they were dating. James never rushed her and Kagome felt safe with him. They took it slow, dating steadily through all four years of school. They married soon after graduation and after a few months, they left the Land of a 1,000 Lakes for the Windy City. They worked hard and were able to get a two bedroom loft in the Artist District downtown. They loved their flat and spent many weekends searching through old stores to decorate the place. 2 years after they married, Kagome was thrilled to discover she was pregnant.  
  
      Hanako Emily Thomas was born in May. Her parents doted on her and she was a happy, personable baby. She smiled at everyone and with her mother’s Asian features and black hair, and her father’s blue eyes, no-one could argue with the proud parents over the attractiveness of their child. Emily loved being outdoors and going to the beach, even though she wasn’t old enough to do much, such a trip was always a guaranteed smile. She bounced in her bouncy seat and tried to kick any sea gulls that got too close, which to her mind was within 45 feet or so.  
  
      Emily was about 6 months old in October, and Kagome was excited about Halloween coming up. She took the baby to the store, and spent the day trying costumes on the child. She finally settled on a white tiger. She was going to paint whiskers on Emily with eyebrow pencil. Satisfied, they went to a nearby restaurant to join her father for dinner. Emily made a wholly hellafied mess at the table, but Kagome just cleaned off her chubby hands and didn’t fuss at her. James put her in the tub when they got home and read her a story and the Thomas house settled down for the night.  
  
      The following morning, Kagome went in to wake the baby and was horrified to see that she wasn’t breathing.  
  
      “Em? Emi?” Kagome reached to pick up the baby, but she was cold. Kagome backed away from the crib. “Jamie!”  
  
      James came out of the bathroom at the panic in his normally unflappable wife’s voice. “Honey? What’s wrong?”  
  
      “Emi . . . she’s . . . not . . .” He crossed to the crib and touched his daughter. Repressing his own instinct to panic, James called 9-1-1 and tried to console Kagome.  
  
      “I don’t understand! She was fine yesterday.”  
  
      “SIDS,” was all the doctors could tell them.  
  
      Kagome cried for days and spend a lot of time sitting on the roof of the apartment building, trying to get away from everyone. Emily’s funeral was supposed to be small, but there were more people there than Kagome or James had expected. There were people from both of their jobs who had never met her, several of their neighbours, most of whom neither of them had ever spoken to.  
  
      For Kagome it was a shock that that many people were touched by her baby, and she promised herself that she would get back in control and carry on.  
  
***  
  
[1] ESL means English Second Language. They are college English classes for foreign students who don’t have a good grasp of the language. It’s to help them with their other classes, and is required in American colleges.


	5. Chapter 5

     The plane finally taxied down the runway and took off. Kagome opened her eyes briefly. She loved watching the ground retreat below her and the clouds surround them, then blinked at the sudden brightness as the plane broke free of the clouds. She sighed. This was her favorite part of flying — the checker board patterns created by the faint ground below, and the tiny, barely visible cars, and the nonexistent people.  
  
      She sat back and closed her eyes again; glad she didn’t have a seat partner on this leg of her flight.  
  
      ‘I wonder just how much tragedy a person is required to endure before enough is enough?’  
  
      18 months ago, 3 years after Emily’s unexpected loss, Kagome and James began talking about maybe trying to have another child.  
  
      “What if we adopt this time? Maybe a slightly older child? Like 8 or 9?” At first, James was resistant to the idea, but Kagome kept at it and he finally agreed to at least consider it.  
  
      Not long after that, James went out with his best friend and a buddy from work. They drove an hour out to the suburbs to play pool and watch the game with another, mutual friend and it was late when they got back into the city. A drunk driver put an abrupt end to their evening. He walked away with a few bumps and 25 years in jail. James, and both of his friends died from their injuries a few days after the accident.  
  
      Kagome wiped her face and massaged her cheeks, trying to keep her tears at bay. She was constantly reminding herself that James and Emily were together and he was protecting their child. But it was still hard not to cry; all her dreams had gone in less than two blinks.  
  
      Kagome still wore her wedding ring, as it kept most men at bay. That was the way she wanted it, the last thing she wanted was another relationship.  
  
***  
  
      When the plane landed in LA, Kagome had another marathon dash to her next flight. JAL always took off on time. Aboard the new plane, she was greeted in her native tongue, which after a decade of being immersed English, sounded odd. She understood the words, but it took a moment to find a reply. Embarrassed, Kagome took her seat and spent the rest of the flight listening to old J-Pop on her I-mp3 player.  
  
      They landed at Narita in the dark, which made Kagome even more disoriented, but she got her bags and stood outside the airport, planning her next move. It was tempting to call her mother and ask to stay in her old room while she was in town, but frankly, it was too close to the well. The company hadn’t sent a car for her, so Kagome had a 40-minute cab ride to the hotel.  
  
      Utterly exhausted by the time they arrived; Kagome dragged herself into the hotel and waited at the front desk for the girl. She didn’t come right away, so she was forced to ring the bell. The girl emerged from the office, and her smile faltered slightly at the sight of Kagome.  
  
      ‘Must be because I’m human,’ Kagome thought as she checked in. As soon as the cab pulled into the parking lot, Kagome had sensed the large number of demons on the premises, but none of them seemed hostile, so she’d ignored the feeling.  
  
      “Is there a conference going on?” Kagome asked, sliding her corporate credit card across the counter.  
  
      “Yes, Ms. Thomas. They’ll only be here a few more days.”  
  
      “Oh, I don’t mind. That just means I’ll have to get up early if I want breakfast.”  
  
      The girl laughed uncomfortably and motioned for the bell-boy to take Kagome’s bag. In the elevator, Kagome closed her eyes and sighed.  
  
      ‘I honestly never thought that demons would have conferences. I honestly never thought they would survive long enough to want to have conferences.’  
  
      The elevator made several stops and a total of about 5 demons got on. They were fine until, some mischievous imp prompted her, and Kagome allowed her power to spike slightly. Suddenly, the demons began looking back at her and were becoming very twitchy. Kagome kept her eyes forward, pretending not to see their disquiet. One turned to look at her fully and gasped.  
  
      The elevator reached her floor and the demons parted like the Red Sea to let her off. Chuckling to herself, she followed the boy to her door and, took her keycard from him after he opened the door. She tipped him and closed the door.  
  
      ‘It’s amazing I can still do that. I’m not pure anymore, so my power shouldn’t even work.’ Kagome looked around the room. It was a 2-room suite, with one big bed and a small sitting room. The bathroom was large and the whole room was silent and cool. She put her bag on the bed and dug out her bath supplies.  
  
      ‘Once I get settled, I’m calling Mom and Souta.’  
  
***  
  
      On the elevator, the demos were staring after her. “That’s the Miko who destroyed Naraku!”  
  
      “How can she still be alive?”  
  
      “We must inform the Council . . .”  
  
***


	6. Chapter 6

     Feeling human again after her shower, Kagome laid out her clothes, then sat down on the bed and looked over some paperwork, before she called her brother. This took longer than she had expected, but when she was finished, Kagome pulled out her Blackberry. After two rings, a woman with a Kansai accent answered the phone.  
  
      “Moshi Moshi?”  
  
      “Hi. My name is Kagome—”  
  
      “Souta-kun! Your sister!” Kagome gave the phone a quizzical look as she heard things falling on the other end, then:  
  
      “Ane-san!”  
  
      “Hisashiburi, Souta-kun.” Souta was breathless, half crying, half laughing.  
  
      “Where are you? Are you in town? Why didn’t you come to the shrine?”  
  
      “Souta. Breathe. I’m in town. I got in about 3 hours ago. I’m at the Hyatt. I’m on a business trip and I didn’t come to the shrine because I didn’t have the cab fare.”  
  
      “Fine,” her brother’s voice was determined. “It’s not late. I’m coming to get you now—”  
  
      Souta’s wife’s voice broke in. “Souta-kun, she said she just got in. Let a body rest for one night. I’m Mika, by the way.”  
  
      “Hajimemashite, Mika-han.” Kagome was trying not to laugh while Souta protested his wife’s idea. Mika finally prevailed, and they talked for a while long and Kagome promised to come by later on. She hung up and fell asleep with the light on.  
  
***  
  
      Breakfast the next morning was an interesting experience. Kagome came down to eat, and suddenly found herself with half the tables in the room to herself. She sat down and took a few sips of coffee, watching the demons watching her. Finally, she put down her cup and looked at them, huddled across the room from her.  
  
      “Look,” She said finally. “I’m not a Miko any longer. I can’t purify a dirty spoon, and anyway, none of you are even remotely evil enough to warrant an attack.” She went back to her coffee, all eyes still fixed on her at a safe distance. She was getting thoroughly disgusted, when a tall woman in a multi coloured, metallic silk dress and the last being she ever expected to see waltzed in, hand in hand.  
  
      “Come on, Sessho-kun. You and I both know that you can’t be alone forever. The Inu Clan must survive. Taking it out on the Council will avail you nothing. Sesshomaru, are you listening to me?”  
  
      Sesshomaru wasn’t listening. He was staring at the woman sitting alone in a room full of people. His nose had told him as he had come down the hall from the elevator that a member of his Pack was nearby, but couldn’t fathom how, as he had not seen his brother in over a decade. Yet here she was; his brother’s former Alpha female. She was Pack because she had belonged to Inuyasha.  
  
      “Ka . . . Kagome?” She slowly lowered her cup to the table.  
  
      “Sesshomaru.” Neither of them noticed that the room had fallen completely silent. Kagome stood up and bowed politely to the tall demon lord.  
  
      “Sesshomaru. Hisashiburi, ne?” He took two steps closer and stopped.  
  
      “Hisashiburi? It’s been 500 years. How . . . you’re . . . human. Their lives are finite. Yet you’ve . . .”  
  
      She smiled gently and moved close enough to him to pat him on the cheek. Everyone gasped, expecting him to rip off her arm. Instead, he just leaned into her palm for a moment, and then she stepped back, drawing away her hand.  
  
      “The well in the shrine where I grew up was a portal to the past. It has long been closed.” Something flickered in his eyes and he nodded once.  
  
      “You cut your hair.” When she reached up to touch the shorn locks, the light caught her ring. “You’re married?”  
  
      The question came out harsher than Sesshomaru intended. He was startled by the smell of salt as tears rose in her eyes, but didn’t fall.  
  
      “Was,” she said softly. “I’ve lost James and . . . my baby.” Kagome didn’t realize he was beside her until he put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
      “What was the baby’s name?” Sesshomaru asked softly.  
  
      “Emily. She was only 6 months old.”  
  
      “I bet she looked just like you.” Kagome nodded, and then pushed him away.  
  
      “I’m sorry, Sesshomaru. I know seeing me was a shock. Worse, I made you hug me in front of everyone.”  
  
      “It doesn’t matter. They’re giving you space because they know who you are.”  
  
      “What?” Kagome was trying to clean her face without ruining her make-up.  
  
      “Sure. Everyone knows of the Miko who destroyed the hanyou Naraku and restored the Shikon no tama.”  
  
      Kagome looked around the room at the demons surrounding her just as her watch beeped. Then why were they avoiding her?  
  
     “Oro?” She glanced down at her wrist. “Yada! I’m going to be late!” She grabbed her purse and attaché case off of the chair behind her. “I’ll be here for one week. Maybe one night we can have dinner; catch up. Ja ne!” And she was gone.  
  
     Jae-Hwa came up behind Sesshomaru, and put one perfectly manicured finger on his arm.  
  
      “Sesshomaru, if that woman is the real Shikon Miko, then the search for a mate—”  
  
      “Jae-Hwa.” His voice was firm and even. “Did you not hear her? Her mate has just died. Clearly, the incident is still fresh in her mind. She has not even removed her wedding ring. And her child is dead?” He turned cold, gold eyes on the dragon.  
  
      “Do not talk to me of mates. And do not include her in the matter.” Jae-Hwa nodded and moved away and Sesshomaru sat down. The room quickly cleared, leaving him totally alone.  
  
      ‘If she’s real?! I know I cannot be the only one who felt her power.’  
  
      Kagome’s power surrounded her like a cloud, and when he hugged her, Sesshomaru could feel it brushing around his body. The tingling sensation it left behind, while distracting, wasn’t unpleasant. Sesshomaru got up and got himself a cup of coffee and spent the next half hour lingering over it. He was reluctant to go to the Council meeting.  
  
      ‘The miko . . . I can’t believe she was able travel into the Sengoku. She’s older now than when I last saw her, but she has grown very beautiful in her maturity.’ The flash of her wedding ring came back to him.  
  
      ‘She was married. With a child. I wonder what happened to them. She said a name, but her last name would have changed.’  
  
      He put the mug down and returned to his room, on a mission. He took the back stairs to avoid the chance of running into any fellow Council members who were on their way downstairs. Today, Kouga was presenting his youngest child and only son as his heir. Sesshomaru knew he should be there, but as he was the child’s surrogate father and Ayame had decided he made a fine babysitter, he sometimes spent more time with the child than his own parents.  
  
      ‘I think Ichi will forgive me if I’m not there.’ In his room, Sesshomaru got on his computer and began searching.  
  
***


	7. Chapter 7

        Kagome bowed to the polite applause of her colleagues. She had made it to the office in the nick of time, and the presentation of her new project plan went off without a hitch. When she was finished, the manager stood, still clapping.  
  
      “Thank you, Ms. Thomas. Are there any questions for Ms. Thomas?” Q&A took another 30 minutes, then Kagome gathered her things, and went to lunch with the manager and five others. At the restaurant, she fielded personal questions that annoyed her even though she knew they weren’t meant to, and successfully managed to steer the conversation topics back towards work related subjects.  
  
      After lunch, Kagome had a Planning Committee meeting, where she was given an award for Best Employee Practices. The meeting ran into the dinner hour, so she also had dinner with them. Dinner took a solid two hours, and the half of the committee members that didn’t commute began bar hopping. Exhausted and beginning to feel jet lagged, Kagome finally managed to escape after the third bar.  
  
      Back at the hotel, she called Souta to arrange dinner with the family for the following night and went to bed.  
  
***  
  
      Sesshomaru closed the computer and frowned. It hadn’t been hard to find out what he wanted to know about Kagome’s past. It was only a little over a year since her husband had passed, and in such a bad way. And the baby—the proud parents had set up an open Live Journal page to allow their 2 families, separated by a continent and an ocean to see the child. There were almost 300 pictures and Sesshomaru had looked at all of them; from her new born picture to a video of her pulling herself up for the first time.  
  
      For a human, Emily was a cute child, and clearly, her parents had doted on her.  
  
      And then, the pictures stopped. It was abrupt, with no explanation offered. Curious, Sesshomaru had done some more digging and found the baby’s obituary in the Chicago Tribune. He read over the small notice, then gotten up and went out onto the balcony. All he could think about was how close he’d come to losing Rin while she was still a child. And he would have without his mother’s help. Thankfully, Rin had lived a long, productive life and had lots of children, but he could understand Kagome’s reluctance to talk about what happened.  
  
      With these back-to-back tragedies, there was no way the Council would even begin to consider trying to make her his mate. Jae-Hwa would have to be briefed of course, but perhaps it would put her off her search for a while. He sighed and returned to the room. It was a good thing Kagome wasn’t there during the day; her presence was far too distracting.  
  
      ‘Oh, stop it; the miko is a human and we got over this obsession a long time ago.’ Growling softly, to dispel her face from his mind, Sesshomaru, decided to go downstairs and join Ichi’s Presentation party.  
  
***  
  
      The following morning, Jae-Hwa was waiting in the hallway for Kagome to come out of her room. Kagome emerged, checked the door to see that it was locked and reached for the newspaper as Jae-Hwa approached.  
  
      “Ano, excuses me, Miko-sama?” Kagome winced.  
  
      “I’m not a mi—oh! You’re the woman that was with Sesshomaru yesterday. Are you his mate?”  
  
      Jae-Hwa laughed. “No, dear. We’re just friends. We’re not even the same species. I’m a dragon.”  
  
      “Ah. That explains the dresses. I like them, don’t get me wrong.” Jae-Hwa laughed her thanks.  
  
      “Miko—Kagome?-san. Sesshomaru—” she paused. “Walk with me.” Curious, Kagome fell in step with the dragon demoness.  
  
      “Sesshomaru is one of the oldest demons alive. When you met him the first time, he was barely out of his teens.”  
  
      Kagome grunted. “That . . . actually explains a lot.”  
  
      Jae-Hwa chuckled. “Well, he’s moving towards for a human would be his mid-30’s. The Demon Council thinks it’s time that he finds a mate and starts setting up his nursery.”  
  
      Kagome nodded. “So what’s the issue?”  
  
      Jae-Hwa sighed. “Sesshomaru is an Alpha. There are no Alpha females in his line. His mother was the last, 2,000 plus years ago.”  
  
      “You seem to be an Alpha,” Kagome pushed the button as they arrived at the elevator.  
  
       “I am. But I’m a dragon. I’ve been without a mate for 200 years. 5 years ago, the first Alpha male of my species was born after 600 years.” She smiled, and followed Kagome into the elevator car. “He’s sweet. When he grows up a bit, we’ll be mated.”  
  
      Jae-Hwa shook her head. “Sesshomaru is a Silver Inu. With no females in his line, he has two choices: allow the line to die with him or mate a powerful miko and hope she will give him an heir of pure blood.”  
  
      “Me.” Kagome turned her face away so Jae-Hwa couldn’t see her blush. “Well, mikos must be pure for them to have any power. The first time I made love, I forfeited my power.”  
  
      “I disagree. I think that was a myth to keep the mikos, in a hard past, from getting bogged down with a family.”  
  
      “I can’t,” Kagome had gotten used to the American bluntness while she was away.  
  
      “Listen, if all he needs is another dog demon, then why not look outside Japan. The Middle East for instance. The Jackals in Egypt—”  
  
      “No, Kagome-san. All those avenues have been explored. Inu age slower than the rest of us and breed slower, too.”  
  
      Kagome heaved a sigh and practically ran off the elevator when it stopped. “Well, what about a han—”  
  
      Jae-Hwa slapped her hand over Kagome’s mouth. “They’re all dead. No-one speaks of them. He can wait and die or he can mate with you. There are no other options.”  
  
      Jae-Hwa took her hand away, and Kagome stepped back. “All of them are dead?” Kagome sounded near tears.  
  
      “Inuyasha lives only because Sesshomaru wouldn’t allow him to be killed. He almost lost his right front leg for his trouble. The left one finally grew back, but still . . .”  
  
      Kagome backed away from Jae-Hwa. “I . . . I . . . can’t . . . I have to go.” She fled and Jae-Hwa sighed.  
  
      Sesshomaru had forced her to listen to all the things that he’s found out about the miko, hoping to deter her, but all it did was fire her determination. They needed each other.  
  
      ‘I won’t give up. And nothing either one of you do to put me off will stop me.’  
  
***


	8. Chapter 8

      Souta watched his mother and sister arguing good naturedly over whose turn it was to hold his daughter, Keiko. Mika finally broke in.  
  
      “You’ll spoil her,” But neither woman was listening. Souta smiled.  
  
      “You know, Mika-chan, since Kagome and I both had girls, you and I need to have another one.”  
  
      “What?” Mika looked at him quizzically. “Why?”  
   
      “Well, with Grandpa gone, God bless him, I’m the only male in the Higurashi family.”  
  
      Mika nodded sagely. “I see . . . that’s true . . .well, okay.” She reached over and grabbed him. Mrs. Higurashi put her hands over the baby’s eyes and everyone laughed.  
  
      Later, after dinner, Kagome pulled her brother aside. “I need to ask you something.”  
  
      She dragged him out onto the balcony, and quickly, she explained about Sesshomaru and what Jae-Hwa told her that morning. He listened, and asked a few questions, then turned to look out at the city skyline.  
  
      “I can understand his situation, Ane. He’s facing extinction.” Souta turned back to her. “You know he doesn’t want to be intimate with you. But maybe you and he could work out a more . . . scientific arrangement. Perhaps invitro. I also know you don’t want to have another child, but you had Emily.” He paused. “Even if it’s a girl, at least his family can hold out for a few more centuries. Maybe another Alpha will be born by then.”  
  
      Kagome huffed. “That’s true. I just hate being pregnant. And my informal studies and observations of demons has told me that their gestations are, at best, difficult unless both parents are around. It takes 5 hours in good weather to go from Chicago to LA and another 13 hours to get from LA to Tokyo. That’s not exactly around the corner.”  
  
      Souta laughed softly. “If he agrees, I’m sure you two will work something out.”  
  
      “Hn.”  
  
***  
  
       Sesshomaru was on his hands and knees in the hallway, growling at Ichi and enjoying the baby’s happy laughter. Ichi had gotten too rowdy to keep in his hotel room, so Sesshomaru had moved their game of tag into the hall. Ichi jumped up suddenly and ran down the hallway.  
  
      “’Tach me, Se-‘ji!’ Tach me!”  
  
      “You better run! I’m gonna get you!” The child skidded to a halt as the elevator doors opened and Kagome got off.  
  
       “MIKO!” he shrieked, totally terrified. He turned and ran back to Sesshomaru, jumping into his arms. “Se-‘ji, sabe me!”  
  
      Startled, Kagome paused, then approached slowly, stopping several feet away from the two demons. Ichi continued cowering into the taller demon’s neck, whimpering in fear.  
  
      “Sesshomaru, I need to speak with you.” She had to raise her voice to be heard. “Your dragon friend ambushed me yesterday.”  
  
      One slender eyebrow slid up. “Oh?”  
  
      “Yes. She . . . wanted to . . . update me on . . .your . . . problem.”  
  
      “My problem?” He asked, rubbing the baby’s back, trying to comfort him. “Ichi, please.”  
  
      “Miko’s ‘tae us! They hurts us!”  
  
       “Ichi, listen to me. I know this woman. She knows your father and your mother. She will not harm you. Cease this infernal caterwauling this instant!”  
  
      Kagome’s eyebrow rose. “I know his parents?”  
  
      “Hn. Kouga and Ayame.”  
  
      “They mated! Wonderful! And this is their son? Tell me little one, are you as handsome as your father?”  
  
      Ichi peeked at Kagome through Sesshomaru’s hair. “Go ‘way.”  
  
      “Ichi, stop being rude.” Sesshomaru’s voice was stern.  
  
      Kagome tilted her head, studying the child as best she could. “I can’t imagine Kouga and Ayame raising their children to hate and fear mikos.”  
  
      “I’m sure they did not. However, his peers are another matter.”  
  
      “Peers? Sesshomaru, he’s what, 2 maybe 3? Since when do 3 year olds have peers?”  
  
       “He goes to Nursery school. He plays with other demons who repeat what they hear at home, just like any other child does. His parents may not preach intolerance, but the child is still exposed to it.”  
  
      “Oh, Sesshomaru. “ Kagome sighed. “You sound so mature.”  
  
      He rolled his eyes. “I was a child when you met me. Come inside.” He moved towards his room. “Ichi, its nap time.”  
  
      “No. Nap bad.”  
  
      “Nap necessary.” Sesshomaru took the child into the bedroom and Kagome settled on the couch, listening to him talking with the child as he got him ready for bed. She smiled as he agreed to another game of tag in payment for nap-time compliance. He came out of the room and pulled the door in, leaving it cracked so the child wouldn’t be totally in the dark.  
  
      “Now, Miko,” he sat down on the sofa beside her. “You said I have a problem.”  
  
      “No, I said your friend Jae-Hwa said you have a problem.”  
  
       “Right.” He nodded, waiting for her to continue.  
  
      “Well,” Kagome was getting nervous now. “You see, she seems to think I have the answer to your problem. And, well . . . I’ve thought it over and . . . I think . . . I think I will help you.”  
  
      Sesshomaru stared at Kagome for a full minute, then gave a very Inuyasha like snort. “Thank you, but no. I don’t—”  
  
      “Sesshomaru,” Kagome cut him off before he could say something insulting. “This is the 21st century.”  
  
      “I am fully aware of that.”  
  
      “Good. Then you also know that invitro has advanced to many great and successful lengths.”  
  
      She waited while Sesshomaru considered. ‘His room is nicer than mine,’ she thought. ‘Bigger too. I wonder why the company won’t spring for the suites when I have to be out of town for weeks on end like this.’  
  
      “If . . . we took this . . . scientific route that I assume you’re suggesting . . .you would willingly allow me to have the child . . . no strings attached?”  
  
      Kagome nodded once. “Yes. I wouldn’t want to see the child, hold it, nothing. I would merely be a vessel.”  
  
      “What if you need me?”  
  
      “Need you?” Kagome kept her face neutral. “For what?”  
  
      Sesshomaru looked amused. “Demons have notoriously difficult pregnancies. When there is a human involved, it can be most painful for the mother.”  
  
      “I’ll survive. I intend to keep working just like I did when I had my own baby, and I’m not staying in Japan. I have a life in America that I do not wish to lose.”  
  
      Sesshomaru nodded. “I see. And you are sure that you would not want to see the child—”  
  
      “No. It won’t be my baby.”  
  
      “Fair enough.” Sesshomaru stood and went to the window. ‘Have I really become so desperate that I’m even considering this?’  
  
      He turned back to her. “Come back tonight and we’ll map this to the letter over dinner.”  
  
      Kagome stood, bowed and fled. He watched the door close behind her and closed his eyes.  
  
      ‘What am I doing? Even my stupid brother never sank this low.’  
  
***


	9. Chapter 9

    Kagome put down her chopsticks and sighed. “That was good. Now, I do have lots of unused vacation time. The hospital in Chicago has one of the best infertility clinics in the world.”  
  
      Sesshomaru nodded, peering into the lo mien container. “Yes, I looked them up after you left this afternoon. They have a 98% success rate.” He looked at her for a moment, then picked up the box of rice.  
  
      “Jae-Hwa is convinced you would have the power to make the child a full demon. Is that true?”  
  
      “Yes,” Kagome hadn’t wanted to talk about this.  
  
      “Good. If the child is a human or a hanyou, I will have no use for it.”  
  
      “Sesshomaru! That’s horrid!”  
  
      “Maybe. But a half-blood child will be hard for the Council to accept as my heir, and a human well neigh imposable. A full demon will cause less fuss. For me now and later, for the child.”  
  
      “Hmm.” Kagome rolled her eyes. “I’ll try.”  
  
      "I mean it, Miko. Don’t try, do.”  
  
      “Ka-go-me. I even write it in Hiragana for ease of pronunciation.”  
  
       Sesshomaru sighed deeply and rubbed his nose. ‘I need this human. I cannot kill her, no matter how deep the desire.’  
  
***  
  
      Eight weeks later, Kagome found herself lying on a cold metal table, her feet in the stirrups, exposed to the world, while a nurse implanted a three day old embyo into her womb, while 2 more nurses, one of whom was a man, and her doctor stood by. It was totally humiliating. The only saving grace was that Sesshomaru had banished himself to the hallway.  
  
      “There we are, Mrs. Taishou. We’re all set.” Kagome bit her lip so hard it bled.  
  
      ‘Mrs. Taishou indeed!’ She sat up. “How soon will we know?”  
  
       “You’ll come back in two weeks and we’ll check.” She nodded and got ready to get up.  
  
      “And if not?”  
  
      “Not to worry. We still have a dozen, viable embryos to work with.” The nurses and the doctor left her alone to dress. Sesshomaru was leaning against the wall outside the exam room door. Pulling on her coat, Kagome barely spared him a glance.  
  
      “You heard?”  
  
      “Mmm.” He fell in step beside her as they walked outside of the clinic in silence. On the sidewalk, Kagome put on her shades against the glare of the afternoon sun.  
  
       “So what now?”  
  
        Sesshomaru shrugged. “We come back in two weeks.” There was an awkward pause. “This is really weird.”  
  
       Kagome laughed. “A little. But as they say: ‘there is a precipice afore and wolves behind.’ You had a choice.”  
  
       He gave another Inuyasha like snort. “So I jumped.” She nodded and turned toward the parking lot.  
  
        “I’ll call you if anything changes between now and then.” Kagome drove back to work, and had a more or less normal day at the office. She was in good spirits on the way home, but when she got to the apartment, Kagome’s mood deflated. She went through the motions of her nightly routines, and went to bed hours early.  
  
       ‘I may have to take maternity leave again,’ she thought, staring at the dark ceiling and listening to the traffic noises on the street below.  
  
      Learning to ignore the traffic sounds was hard at first after spending a good portion of her life first in the silent sanctuary of the Higurashi shrine, and then later in the Sengoku-jidai. James used to tease her incessantly about it. Anymore, she could sleep through anything. Except now.  
  
      ‘No, I’ll work through until I can’t. I won’t need any time off as I won’t be looking after the child. Assuming I’m pregnant. And I don’t need to get any of Emily’s things out of storage either.’  
  
      She sighed and turned over, trying to turn off her brain. ‘I don’t have to think about names, or anything. Honestly, other than staying healthy, I really don’t have to do anything. This should be simple.’  
  
      She lowered her hand to her abdomen. “If there’s anyone there, I’m sure Sesshomaru will treat you well. He’s not as bad as I remember him from the past. He’s grown up, and I watched him with Ichi-chan. He’ll be an excellent father.”  
  
      Kagome was horrified as she started crying. Suddenly, she was regretting her choice, but no options came to her as she drifted off to sleep.  
  
***  
  
       Watching Kagome walk away was the hardest thing Sesshomaru had ever done. He knew there was no way to know if she was pregnant this early, but somehow, he was sure. Sesshomaru returned to his hotel and called Jaken for updates on business. That chore out of the way, he took a cab into Chinatown, seeking a Japanese bookstore.  
  
      Once there, he bought every book on childcare and baby names he could find. He had 2 weeks to become an expert on infants. Ichi was simple; he could talk, as could Rin. But newborns didn’t talk, that much he knew. Beyond that, he was total out of his element.  
  
***


	10. Chapter 10

     Sesshomaru was restless. It had been three week since the first trip to the clinic. Kagome had postponed the follow-up because of a work related deadline she had to meet. This annoyed Sesshomaru to no end, so he made sure to be at her office the day of the new appointment do drive her to the clinic himself. Kagome came marching out the door, frowning at him behind her dark shades.  
  
      “You high-handed son of a human!” Several people gave her an odd look, but she ignored them. “I am perfectly capable of driving myself!”  
  
      Sesshomaru stared at her. ‘It took. She’s pregnant.’ He could smell the change in her scent, and every instinct roared to the surface. Protect my mate, make sure she is well. She looks a little thin; when did she last eat?  
  
      “Well?” Kagome got in the car, slamming the door far harder than necessary. “Let’s fricking go.”  
  
      Now, he paced back and forth outside the exam room door, waiting for the doctor to come out and confirm what he already knew.  
  
      ‘I’m going to be a father. But I must not allow myself to go crazy. If the Miko cannot live up to her promise, I will have a child I can’t raise.’  
  
      The door opened and the doctor came out with a bright, cheery smile on her face.  
  
      “Congratulations. Everything looks great. I’d like to see Kagome in about a month in my regular office.” The doctor handed him several blue prescription papers.  
  
      “Kagome needs to start taking these vitamins daily. She’s also a bit anemic, so I’ve prescribed an iron tablet she also needs to take daily.”  
  
      Sesshomaru nodded. “Thank you. I’ll see that she takes them.” The doctor departed and Sesshomaru knocked on the door.  
  
      “Enter.” He pushed open the door. Kagome was pulling on her jacket. He hesitated in the doorway, disliking the smells in the room.  
  
       “The doctor gave me a couple of prescriptions for you.”  
  
      “Yeah, just the standard vitamins. You forget, I’ve already done this once.”  
  
      He followed her to the elevator. “The doctor wants you back in a month.”  
  
      Kagome nodded. “Again, SOP. Sesshomaru, this is totally normal. I’ll go every 4-6 weeks until my last 8 weeks, when I’ll come in twice a month until the baby comes. I’ll let you know before the ultrasounds so you can be there. But that won’t be before I’m 5 or 6 months.”  
  
      “Ah,” the elevator came and they rode in silence to the pharmacy in the basement.  
  
      “You know, you never said what you’ll do if the baby is human.” Kagome commented as they got off.  
  
      “Does it matter?” Sesshomaru didn’t want to discuss or even consider this possibility.  
  
      Kagome shrugged. “Not really. I’m not that much involved either way.”  
  
       “Hmm.” Sesshomaru handed the ‘scrips to the pharmacist, who bowed politely to Sesshomaru.  
  
       “Sesshomaru-sama.”  
  
      Sesshomaru looked blank and Kagome gasped. The young man laughed and Kagome used some of her power to see past the magic concealing his true self.  
  
       “Kitsune,” she breathed, and he nodded.  
  
       “But I’m not from Japan. I was born and raised in America.” He looked down at the ‘scripts. “Miko-sama, there is something else you’ll want to take along with these. I’ll get it for you.”  
  
      He walked away and Kagome looked up at Sesshomaru, who was nodding. “What is he talking about?”  
  
      “I know you’ve been pregnant before, but this time will be different. Normally, demons will conceive after they have taken a mate, so that there is someone to support the female.” He rocked back and forth on his heels, clearly uncomfortable with this topic.  
  
      “Right now, I’m okay. When I come back in 4 months, you’ll be starting to show a little and I’ll be able to hear the baby moving, be able to smell it distinctly.”  
  
       He held one clawed hand to her abdomen. “Every instinct will tell me that . . . I should be with you. Helping you. Just . . . ignore it.” He lowered his hand, and paced two steps away, came back.  
  
      “I might . . . well, for lack of a better term, start—”Sesshomaru hesitated, and Kagome was delighted to see his cheeks turn pink.  
  
      “Nesting?” Kagome supplied, amused. “Human males do that too.”  
  
       “Perhaps,” he conceded, glad he didn’t have to say it. “But without my mark, it will get worse for me. Uh . . . You might also be unusually uncomfortable, have some pain you don’t understand. If that does happen, the child—”  
  
      The demon pharmacist returned. “Here are your vitamins, iron tablets and some herbs. This paper will tell you how to mix and use them to help lessen the pain of your . . . separation.”  
  
      Sesshomaru took the ingredient list before Kagome could grab it. He read over it critically, then nodded once.  
  
      “This is acceptable, kitsune.” He handed Kagome the bag and paper. The fox smiled.  
  
       “The demon world is small, my lord. We can’t have the first Inu heir in 2,000 years born unhealthy.” He turned back to Kagome.  
  
      “Come back to me if you can’t find all the ingredients. Take it as often as necessary once the pain starts. It will ease both of you.”  
  
      Kagome bowed. “Your name, sir?”  
  
      “Toru.” Kagome’s eyebrow went up.  
  
      “My parents came to America to get away from the fighting of Feudal Japan. I was born in New Orleans in 1702.  
  
       “Ah. Well, ja ne. And thank you!”  
  
       Outside, Sesshomaru held open the car door for Kagome. “This Toru seems trustworthy. He will be a valuable resource for you.”  
  
      “I’ll be fine,” Kagome was getting tired and wanted to go home.  
  
       “Hmm.” They drove in silence and when they arrived at her apartment, Sesshomaru finally spoke.  
  
       “I will be returning to Japan tonight. From here, I go to O’Hare. Here’s my cell number and the direct line to my office at work, and my extension at home. If you feel anything, and I mean anything you don’t like, understand, or you feel . . . nervous . . . call me. I’ll come back for the first ultrasound. If it looks okay, I won’t be back until a month before you’re due so I’ll be close when you go into labour.”  
  
      Kagome nodded and accepted the card he held out to her. “Well, thanks for the ride.”  
  
      She slammed the door and he waited until she was inside the locked security doors before he drove away. Every instinct was screaming at him to go back.  
  
      ‘I really should stay. This will be harder on her than she realizes. She’ll need me.’  
  
      Giving himself a mental shake, Sesshomaru drove on. ‘If she were not strong enough to do this, she would be unworthy to be the mother of my child.’  
  
      “Now let’s just hope I’ll be strong enough to get through this.”  
  
***


	11. Chapter 11

                At 6 months, Kagome was tired of being pregnant. The child seemed to disapprove of any male but Sesshomaru coming near her and she hadn’t seen the silver haired youkai in weeks. He called sometimes to ask how she was doing, but mostly to talk to the baby. Kagome would read or do something else with the phone headset around the bulk of the baby. Kami only knew what he talked about, but after each call, the pain would be bad for days if another male came within feet of her.  
  
      She sighed and rubbed the baby. It had taken a firm, almost rude explanation to her OB/GYN that she was a non-custodial surrogate, to finally get the woman to A: stop calling her ‘Mrs. Taishou’ and B: allow her to bring her I-mp3 player to the ultrasounds. Sesshomaru had really seemed to enjoy those, but Kagome had requested that a curtain be placed between her and the screen and that the pictures were given only to Sesshomaru. All she knew was that the baby was healthy.  
  
      Kagome got up and paced around her office, rubbing her back. This was so different that when she was pregnant with Emily. Then, she’d wanted every scrap of information she could get her hands on and James was there to support her.  
  
     The midnight cravings were becoming unbearable. She had to get up and get her own goodies, which wasn’t so bad until she had ballooned up a couple of weeks before. Now, she was doing the pregnant waddle and getting up and down was becoming a chore. As aggravating as he was, having Sesshomaru near to get her snacks would be nice. She smiled.  
  
      Sesshomaru had warned her, but Kagome wasn’t prepared by a long shot. After the first ultrasound, Sesshomaru had begun nesting in earnest. Having him dancing attendance on her 24 hours a day was cute for about 30 seconds. Having him trying to buy her gifts—and expensive ones at that, and anything she was craving . . . it was too much of a glaring reminder that James wasn’t there. Getting irritated, Kagome was only able to bundle him back on the plane to Japan with Jaken’s help.  
  
      Toru, the kitsune pharmacists, was as helpful, if not more so that Sesshomaru said he would be. Toru often came over on the weekends and they went shopping, or had lunch together and Kagome found herself leaning on him more and more for support. He treated her with as much deference as he gave to Sesshomaru. One day, as they were out shopping, Kagome was sure that if she heard one more ‘my lady’ she’d scream. She begged him to stop.  
  
      “What shall I call you, then? You are not the official Lady of the West, but you are the mother of the Heir and First Born. If or when Lord Sesshomaru takes a mate, as the mother of his Heir, she will always bow to you.”  
  
     Kagome had snorted. “Okay, Toru. Whatever.” Toru led her to a table and ordered tea for them both.  
  
      “Okay, don’t believe me.”  
  
      She never called Sesshomaru or spoke to him when he called. She didn’t call him when the herbs stopped dulling the pain, not when the baby fist moved, not even when she fell getting off the EL-train and had to be rushed to the emergency room.  
  
      ‘I can do this by myself. Or mostly anyway. I must!’ She made another circuit of the office. ‘I must have been drunk off of hot tea to agree to this.’ Another lap and the baby shifted. Kagome sighed. At least their sleep cycles jived.  
  
      There was a polite knock and the door opened. Her PA, Nancy popped her head in the door.  
  
      “Ms. Thomas, there’s a gentleman to see you.”  
  
      Kagome’s stomach jumped and her first thought was ‘Sesshomaru!’   
  
      “Oh?”  
  
      Nancy nodded. “And what a hunk!” Kagome smiled.  
  
      “I told you to stop reading those trashy novels. Send him in.” The baby began moving in earnest and Kagome rubbed her belly.  
  
      ‘Your Daddy’s coming to see us. Just be calm.’ She turned half excited, half dreading his arrival. But instead of gold, she was greeted by a very familiar pair of green eyes. They were just a good 5 feet higher than the last time she saw them. Tears sprang to her eyes.  
  
      “Shippou! Oh, my baby!” The fox had hesitated in the doorway, but now he practically threw himself on her, mindful of the baby.  
  
      “Mama! I never thought I’d see you again.”  
  
      “I know! I looked for you when I got sent back. I had wanted to bring you with me.” Kagome took his head between her hands, and kissed him on the forehead. “Oh! My baby got so tall.”  
  
     Shippou grinned. “I’m 6’5’’.”  
  
      Kagome laughed. “I’ll blame the ramen and the candy.” He led her to the couch. “I have missed you so much. How did you find me?” she asked, eager for information.  
  
      Shippou snorted, sounding very Inuyasha like. “It was easy. The demon community is a buzz. The miko who restored the Shikon no tama tolerated a demon’s touch and will soon give birth to the Heir of the Western Lands. So, I went to Sesshomaru and got the truth and then came here.” He started laughing. “He’s not handling this well, you know.”  
  
      “Who’s not handling what well?” Kagome ran her fingers through Shippou’s bangs.  
  
      “Sesshomaru, the separation, your pregnancy. He’s prowling his home like a bear with a sore head, snapping at everyone. He’s got decorators in and has set up a nursery with enough monitoring equipment to drive a jail to envy. He’s got a fully equipped classroom in case tutors are needed. There are musical instruments and books everywhere.”  
  
      Kagome shook her head. “That’s insane. He’s insane!”  
  
      Shippou nodded in agreement. “Tell me about it. He’s set up a massive play room that is wall to wall toys—educational, to fun; for any age group you can imagine. The dojo has been prepared for a child too. The sharp swords were moved up, well out of reach, the bokkens moved down.”  
  
      Kagome started laughing. “Well, he did mention a . . . bit . . . of nesting.”  
  
       Shippou smirked. “Well, that would be normal. This is not, even for an Inu Youkin. He wants to be here with you badly and I believe he feels like he can’t. So he’s trying to make up for it by proving he’s the best provider for the baby.”  
  
      Kagome put her head in her hands, half laughing, half crying. “Oh, lord. There is no competition for me. I’m going to give him the baby, just like I promised.”  
  
      “I know,” Shippou patted Kagome on the head. “I was very much the same way before my son was born—”  
  
      Kagome looked up. “Son? I’m a grandma?” Shippou nodded, pride shining in his eyes and pulled out his wallet.  
  
      “This is Takeshi . . .” They spent the rest of the afternoon, talking about his children and catching up.  
  
***  
  
       In his full demon form, Sesshomaru roamed the grounds of his home, hating the restlessness and edginess he was feeling. Kagome was 6 months along and, according to Shippou, whom he’d unabashedly used as a spy; she was plump and glowing. He also said the baby was active, healthy, and kicking and he was missing it! Growling in annoyance, Sesshomaru shifted back to his human form and took to the sky.  
  
      ‘I want to see her like this. I need to.’ He flew for hours, trying desperately to exhaust himself before he returned home. With the time differences, it was late afternoon in Chicago when he got back home. Sesshomaru stalked around the house for 20 minutes, then slammed the door to his office and picked up the phone. Kagome answered on the 3rd ring.  
  
      “’Yello?”  
  
      “Kagome. How are you feeling?” Kagome sighed loudly.  
  
      “Hi, Sesshomaru. I’m fine. What’s up, I don’t have time for you to talk to the baby today.”  
  
      “Well, you never call me. I was . . . concerned.”  
  
      ‘Yeah, right,’ “Listen, you said call if I have a problem. I don’t have a problem.”  
  
      The silence was palpable. He could hear Kagome breathing and shifting from foot to foot. He cracked first.  
  
      “Would you mind if I came for a visit?”  
  
      “Yes, actually I would. You’ll be here next month as it is. Really, I’m fine. I’m fat, uncomfortable, bloated, and my feet and ankles are swollen. I’m retaining water and today is a bad hair day.” Kagome sighed. “I’m just pregnant, nothing special.”  
  
    Sesshomaru sighed. “Are you in pain?”  
  
      “Some,” she hedged. “But nothing I can’t handle.” She paused, then giggled. “Actually, my only real issue is . . . well . . . James often had to leave work early while I was pregnant with Emily.”  
  
      Sesshomaru frowned for a moment, not sure what she meant, then nodded as realization dawned. “Ah. Well, I can’t help you with that. I’m afraid you’ll have to find a substitute.”  
  
      “Yeah, I know. Like I said, I’m fine.” He heard her groan softly.  
  
      “Kagome—”  
  
      “It’s nothing. Toru just came in. The baby doesn’t like other males near me.”  
  
      "Then tell him to leave.”  
  
      “I’ll do no such thing. Good-by, Sesshomaru.” Kagome slapped the phone shut and he hung up. Frustrated, Sesshomaru pitched the cell phone out the window and across the yard.  
  
      “JAKEN!”  
  
***


	12. Chapter 12

           Two days later, Sesshomaru sat 3 tables away from Kagome and Toru as they stopped for lunch while out shopping. Neither of them noticed Sesshomaru. He watched them come into the café. Kagome was laughing about something. Her hair had grown out some, just brushing her shoulders and she was wearing a long blue dress that just showed the bulk of the baby. She looked even more beautiful than Shippou had described. It took a huge amount of self-control not to go over and embrace her, and rub the baby.  
  
      Toru pulled out a chair for her, then sat down himself, arranging their bags out of the walk-way. The waitress came to take their order and after she went, Sesshomaru watched the kitsune to try and gage his intentions towards Kagome. He showed extreme deference to her, was very polite, but friendly. Sesshomaru dismissed him as a rival and felt comfortable enough to order a cup of tea.  
  
      Kagome and Toru ate lunch and lingered over coffee and juice for nearly an hour. Toru finally got up to take care of the check and use the restroom, so Sesshomaru, ever the opportunist, decided to approach Kagome. Her power flared at his approach, but she didn’t turn to look at him.  
  
     “You have more control that I thought, Demon Lord,” she commented dryly. “What do you want?”  
  
      “I had to see you.” She still didn’t turn around to look at him, but the desperation in his voice tugged at her.  
  
      “Well, you can see I haven’t turned into a pumpkin, though I am carrying the proper dimensions for one.”  
  
      Sesshomaru leaned over her to stroke the baby, and take in her scent. The child kicked against his hand and he gasped. Kagome sipped her juice and tried to pretend she wasn’t there.  
  
      “Turn around.” She complied with a huff. Sesshomaru knelt and put his ear to her belly, listening to the baby’s heartbeat. Kagome felt him smile and resisted the urge to smooth his silver hair off his face. He stood.  
  
      "Thank you.” Kagome shrugged and turned back to the table.  
  
      “In 3 months, it’s all yours.”  
  
      “Don’t you care at all?” He asked, incredulously. Kagome slammed her cup down, causing several people to turn and look at her.  
  
      “I can’t, Sesshomaru. I must not. That was the deal.” He watched a flicker of pain cross her face.  
  
       “Maybe—” he glanced toward the back of the room. Toru was returning. “When’s your next appointment?”  
  
        “Next week. I’ll call you.” He nodded curtly and walked away. Kagome put her head down on the table.  
  
       “Toru, I’m not feeling well. Take me home.”  
  
      “Right away, my lady.”  
  
***  
  
      The doctor’s visit was tense and uncomfortable. The female patients who were used to seeing Kagome coming in alone, were shocked by Sesshomaru. He marched in with her and made her sit down while he signed her in. Kagome was totally embarrassed. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, just the presence of a male in this room full of women, was making everyone uneasy.  
  
      Finally, it was their turn. The doctor was happy to see Sesshomaru after so many months of missed appointments.  
  
      “Kagome, the baby is doing really well. Your blood pressure is normal for the first time in a long while, too. I’m very pleased.”  
  
      After the doctor left, Kagome took her time getting herself back together and Sesshomaru banished himself to the hallway.  
  
      ‘After all these months, this child seems more real to me than ever. I’m excited, but I’m sad for Kagome. She’s the one that has put in all the work and my job is to literally, rip this piece of her away, never to be seen again. It’s not fair to her, or to the child.’  
  
      He pushed away from the wall, shoving his hands in his pockets. ‘I know she’s trying very hard not to let it get to her, but Kagome doesn’t want to give up this child. I can tell. And maybe . . .’  
  
    Finally dressed, Kagome slowly came out. “I’m hungry.”  
  
     Sesshomaru nodded. “What do you want?” Kagome shrugged.  
  
     “I’m not sure. I’ll decide on the way.” Sesshomaru watched her waddle down the hall toward the waiting room and the exit.  
  
    ‘This will work. I just have to be very careful.’  
  
***  
  
      They ended up making three stops to get everything Kagome wanted, then ate in the car. At first, they endured a not very friendly silence until Kagome finally broke it.  
  
      “I really shouldn’t ask you this, but have you thought about names yet?”  
  
      Sesshomaru shook his head. “Honestly, I haven’t. I’m afraid to. What if I pick the wrong thing?”  
  
      “Wrong thing?” Kagome laughed. “Sesshomaru, part of the fun of having a baby is picking a name. You decided and the child will become their name. Your parents named you ‘Killing Perfection’ and you’ve spent a good chunk of your adult life killing and destroying. You became your name.”  
  
      “Actually, ‘Sesshomaru’ is my adult name. When I was born, boys were given a child’s name and when your father decided it was time for you to be an adult, you got your first haircut, you were given adult clothes and a new, grown-up name.”  
  
      “Oh? How old were you when your father decided you were an adult? And what was your child name?”  
  
      “I was about 500—12 in human years. And I don’t really remember. It was a long time ago.”  
  
      Kagome shrugged. “I suppose so. Oh, well. Still, you have to think up something. You can’t call the baby ‘Hey You’ or ‘The Baby’ forever.”  
  
      Sesshomaru actually laughed and tossed a french fry at Kagome. “I know that. I’ll think of something. Now you said picking a name was part of the fun. What are the other parts?”  
  
      “Well . . .” Kagome seemed reluctant to say. “If you’re with someone who loves you madly and whom you don’t mind seeing you . . . out of proportion . . .well . . .the sex is fantastic.”  
  
      He choked on his drink. “So you’ve said before.”  
  
      “I meant it. I am horny from like week 12 to week 35. This has been a very lonely time for me.”  
  
     “I see,” Sesshomaru began dabbing the soda from the front of his shirt. “Well, I did suggest a . . . substitute.”  
  
     “Yeah, right. I can’t even see my feet.” She gathered up the papers and wrappers from her meal. “I need a live, breathing person. Minus that, I just learn to live with it. Women can do that.”  
  
      Sesshomaru raised his eyebrow. “Right. And males are crazy, sex starved maniacs who can’t survive 2 days without it.”  
  
     Kagome laughed. “Well, women would give up sex for a year for a new wardrobe.”  
  
      “Thus proving once and for all that women are insane.”  
  
      “Okay, Sesshomaru. You just keep thinking that.” He smirked.  
  
     “Hmm. Well, where to now? The day is still young.”  
  
      “That may be, but I’m exhausted. I’m ready to go home.” Reluctantly, Sesshomaru took Kagome home, vowing to return the following day.  
  
***


	13. Chapter 13

            Kagome was convinced Sesshomaru was courting her. The demon lord had been in the Windy City for 2 months and he didn’t seem at all inclined to go home. Sesshomaru came to her apartment nearly every day, to drive her to work, to take her to lunch. He even planned dinners for them at some of Chicago’s finest restaurants. Kagome didn’t seem too inclined to go on these planned but never executed dinners, but one day, he went ahead made the reservations without telling her.  
  
       He arrived at the office not long after lunch one Wednesday afternoon, and came upstairs, flirted with Nancy until she let him into Kagome’s office, and planted himself on her couch. Kagome was in a meeting, and was shocked to see him there when she returned.  
  
      “Sesshomaru! This is a disagreeable surprise. What are you doing here?”  
  
      “Hello, Kagome.” He stood up, seemingly oblivious to her words and kissed her on the cheek. “It’s after five o’clock. That means its quitting time.”  
  
      “Not for me it’s not. I have several projects due in the next three days. I’ll be working late.” She turned back to her desk and began sorting out the papers she needed.  
  
      “Not tonight you won’t. We’re going to dinner.”  
  
      Her eyebrow shot up, but her hands didn’t stop working. “Who’s we?”  
  
      “You and I. And we have —” He glanced at his watch. “Two hours to get you ready.” Kagome rolled her eyes and tossed the folder in her hand down on her desk.  
  
      “Sesshomaru, I don’t want to have dinner with you.”  
  
      “Too late.” He grabbed her hand and dragged her out the door. “Plus, I have a surprise waiting for you at home.”  
  
      Kagome was, to say the least, annoyed. However, she had little recourse but to follow Sesshomaru out the door.  
  
      “Nance, I’ll be on my Blackberry if Murry calls back!” Nancy waved.  
  
      “Have fun.” The elevator doors shut and Kagome fixed the tall demon with a fierce glare.  
  
      “Sometimes, I really hate you.”  
  
      He smiled just enough to allow one fang to slide over his bottom lip. Kagome huffed and turned away from him. In the car, she refused to speak to him, but through it all, Sesshomaru remained sanguine. His good mood didn’t even dissipate after an hour in rush hour traffic. Kagome, on the other hand, was hot and cranky and her back was starting to hurt.  
  
      Inside, Sesshomaru gave Kagome an encouraging push toward the bathroom.  
  
      “Take a shower; I’ll be right back.” He left, and Kagome waddled gratefully into the bathroom.  
  
      When she came out, Kagome felt vastly better, and she was kind of hungry. On the bed was red box with a huge white bow. Kagome looked at the box, knowing that these were the colours of Sesshomaru’s House. She put down the towel she was using on her hair and opened the box.  
  
      “Oh!” He’d bought her a new dress. It was dark green, and elegantly styled, to accommodate the bulk of the baby. She held it up and went to the mirror. The skirt fell just below her knees, and small gathers at the empire style bust line helped hide the fact that that the skirt was slightly longer in the front that in the back, so that everything fell evenly. Resisting the urge to cry, Kagome closed the door and got dressed.  
  
***  
  
      Half an hour later, Sesshomaru returned, dressed to go out for the evening. Kagome was just putting up her hair. He waited in the living room, looking at the pictures of James and Emily and glancing over Kagome’s book collection. He was thumbing through a breast-feeding guide when she emerged from the bedroom. He looked up and was pleased at what he saw. The green dress fit well; the Empire waist hugging close to her breasts, then falling gracefully away to her knees.  
  
      Sesshomaru put the book aside and crossed the small room in two strides, taking both of Kagome’s hands in his and spinning her slowly.  
  
      “Lovely. I wasn’t totally sure green would be one of your colours, but the clerk assured me it would suit. And she was right. I’ll be the most envied demon in the city.”  
  
      Kagome laughed, a little nervous. “Right. Well . . . let’s get going before they give away our table.”  
  
       “Oh, that won’t happen, I assure you. This is one of the restaurants Shippou owns. The staff is mostly demons and when the owner’s Mama comes for dinner, her table doesn’t get given away.”  
  
      Now Kagome laughed out loud. “It’s good to know people, or in this case, demons – in high places.”  
  
      Sesshomaru smiled and held out her light wrap. “Shall we go?”  
  
***  
  
      The following Thursday, Kagome awoke to the doorbell and Sesshomaru in a black t-shirt, black jeans, and a leather jacket, his hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. Kagome gaped at him for a second then shut the door without a word and headed back to bed. The bell rang again, and he was still there, looking less amused. She looked him over again, turned and squinted at the clock on the stove in the kitchen, then turned back to the tall demon.  
  
      “What, Demon Lord? It’s early and I only get to sleep in one day a week. What are you up to?” He smirked and stepped past her into the apartment. “Please, come in,” she muttered, shutting the door.  
  
      “Today is Thursday,” He said. Kagome rubbed her eyes.  
  
      “I know. It’s my day off and I should be sleeping right now.”  
  
      “Right. I thought we might go to the museums today.” Kagome frowned slightly, resigned to his not leaving and herself not getting any more sleep.  
  
      “Why today?”  
  
      “Today is the free day, so we can go to as many as we like.” A smile tugged at Kagome’s lips, then broke free.  
  
      “Really? Well, there are worse ways to spend the day, I suppose. Very well, let me get dressed.”  
  
      Sesshomaru glanced at his watch. “You have 30 minutes.” Kagome waved away his words.  
  
      “Whatev’.” She was 7 ½ months pregnant; she’d take as long as she liked to get ready.  
  
***  
  
      In the Thursdays that followed, Kagome began looking forward to going to the museums, and the park, and any number of the simple activities Sesshomaru had planned. The day they went to the park, in spite the cold weather, they sat on a blanket and spent most of the morning reminiscing about the past. Kagome was surprised, and pleased to learn that Inuyasha was still very much alive and well and living in Europe with a family of his own.  
  
      “So you’re the evil uncle no-one talks about?” she teased. He smiled slightly.  
  
      “After the hanyou slaughter, we came to an understanding. We’ll never be close, that time is long past, never to be retrieved—but we can tolerate each other for more than ten minutes at a time.”  
  
      “Eleven?” she asked.  
  
      “A couple of days,” he assured her, tracing his fingers over her hand. “He . . . Inuyasha has become more . . . mature in his old age. And calm.”  
  
      “Old age?” She was incredulous.  
  
      “Well, comparatively. He’s about 40 in human terms. He’ll live at least another four or five hundred years. But he ages faster than I will. He’s 700 years younger, and yet at least 10 years older than I am.” Sesshomaru watched the couples with young children walking past them.  
  
      “His mate is human and so are his children. She will . . . well, suffice it to say, the children will live longer than most humans, but they are not immortal.”  
  
      “Oh,” Kagome looked sad. “Poor Inuyasha. And his wife—oh!”  
  
      “Do not pity her. I explained to her exactly what she was getting into before they mated.” Kagome raised her eyebrow at him.  
  
      “And she still mated with him? It must be love.” Sesshomaru slanted her a glance, then rose with a grace that belied his height. Kagome was annoyed. She was nearing the end of her eighth month and was past the point of being tired of being pregnant. Getting up gracefully was a thing of the past. Sesshomaru had to help her up.  
  
      “You must have lunch, and it is cold.”  
  
      “I’m okay,” she assured him as he folded the blanket and took her hand to escort her back to his car.  
   
    “Your nose is red, miko. Let us find an indoor café. I would very much enjoy a cup of coffee.”  
  
***


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Lemon spritz.  
> ***

  
  
            That night found the miko and the demon lord sitting directly on the cold sand of the beach just off Lake Shore Drive, watching the tide come in as the sun set. They weren’t talking, and after a while, Kagome began making a small sand castle. Sesshomaru turned from the spectacle in the stratosphere to watch her attempting to sculpt a pagoda style roof from sand. The sun disappeared and with it, the light. She was about halfway finished, and to his horror, Kagome suddenly began to cry.  
  
       The tears were huge and silent at first, but quickly evolved into body wracking sobs.  
  
      “Kagome, what’s wrong?” He asked, unsure why she was upset. Kagome shook her head and kept crying.  
  
      “Gomen ne, Sessho-kun. Just . . . ignore me.” She tried to wipe her face, and ended up making sandy trails down her cheeks instead. Sesshomaru took out his handkerchief and leaned over to gently wipe her face, then handed her the cloth. He turned back to the water.  
  
      “Hormones?” he asked, casting about for any coherent explanation for her suddenly melancholy. Kagome nodded.  
  
      “I’m just . . . Sesshomaru, I had a good time today. I’m glad to know that you and Inuyasha are getting along and that he has a family to love and protect. But, I just can’t . . . I miss my Emily! She never even got to take her first steps. And now --” Kagome stopped and looked away.  
  
      Sesshomaru knew what she wanted to say. “Now?” he prompted. She shook her head.  
  
      “It doesn’t matter.” Kagome sniffed, rolled over onto her hands and knees and stood up. He watched her, too focused on finding the root cause of her grief to be amused.  
  
      “Yes it does. You want to see this baby take its first steps. And why not?” She wouldn’t look at him. “You are the Mother of my Heir. If this child has the chance to grow and mate, you will be the Eve of my House.” He had wanted to wait a little longer, but perhaps it was past time to bring the issue that had been hanging over them like the Sword of Domiciles for weeks out into the open.  
  
     Kagome had started walking away, but stopped at his words. “What?!”  
  
    Sesshomaru rose and slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks.  
  
      “The last Inu female that was born was my mother 2,000 years ago. What you are doing is saving my line.” He took her hand and kissed her palm. “I thank you for that.”  
  
      He leaned closer and nuzzled her neck. Kagome’s face felt hot as she flushed. Sesshomaru smiled and ran his tongue along the line of her throat.  
  
      "You know,” he told her, keeping his voice low. “Your scent has changed since you became pregnant.” He put a gentle palm on either side of the baby. “It’s heavier; richer.”  
  
      Kagome tried to ignore the slight stab of fear that went through her as she recalled the countless times those same claws had shown their truer, more lethal nature. It was a tableau of shocking contrasts in her mind.  
  
       He was still scenting her and that soft caress was doing weird things to her stomach. He planted a kiss behind her ear and Kagome shivered, though not with fear this time.  
  
      “Perhaps, it is time we thought about . . . renegotiating our arrangement a bit,” he nipped her then kissed the tiny pain away. Kagome vaguely observed in the back of her mind that she was going to have a hickey if he didn’t stop doing that, but she didn’t push him away.  
  
      “How?” she asked, her voice sounding to her own ears like it was coming from somewhere far away.  
  
     “Come back to Japan with us—as my mate, the mistress of my House and Lady of the Western Lands.”  
  
     He was surprised as Kagome began crying again. She shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t . . . my job—” she protested.  
  
     “Can easily transfer you to the Tokyo office.” His hand slid behind her back and gently pulled her closer, kissing her cheeks and her temples, ghosting past her lips. Kagome struggled feebly in his grasp.  
  
     “No — my home. This is my home. I’m an American now.”  
  
      “That won’t change, my dear. And the house is paid off, it’s not going anywhere.” Sesshomaru pulled back slightly, looking at her flushed face, then kissed the corner of her mouth.  
  
      “I need you.”  
  
      “Sessho—” His lips locked with hers and Kagome wasn’t sure how she kept her balance. He was gentle and coxing and her whole world was focused in that moment. It had been too long since she had been intimate with anyone. Her arms slid around his neck, pulling him closer as she felt his tongue traced her lips, seeking entrance. She relaxed into his embrace and he reluctantly broke the kiss.  
  
    He rested his forehead against hers, enjoying her breathless gasps and flushed face. He was confident she wouldn’t reject him, at least not now.  
  
***  
  
      Twenty minutes later, they fell into Kagome’s apartment, shedding clothes as they bee lined directly to her bed, kissing and touching with frantic eagerness. As Sesshomaru’s hands finally found the hem of her maternity tunic, Kagome seemed to come back to earth. She froze in his arms and Sesshomaru groaned aloud in frustration. She pulled away. The last thing she wanted was Sesshomaru’s first memory of her naked was her fat, with every stretch mark obvious for ease of counting and consideration.  
  
      “I . . . can’t . . . I . . .” She put her arms across her chest, blocking his attempts to remove her top. Sesshomaru pulled her back, and silenced her with a possessive kiss.  
  
      “Kagome, you are carrying my child. I want to see you.” He snatched the tunic off before she could protest again and stepped back. Kagome looked away, tears of shame springing to her eyes. Sesshomaru reached out to trace the swell of her body, his claws just skimming her skin.  
  
      “Kagome. Look at me.” His voice sounded strained. Reluctantly, she raised her eyes to his and the tears did fall. He was looking at her with something akin to awe on his face. He stepped closer, flatting his palm against her, then knelt and rested his head against her, marveling at how much warmer her skin was where the baby sat than the rest of her body. Kagome looked down at the dignified demon lord listening to their child, and indulged an earlier temptation to run her fingers through his platinum hair.  
  
     “Sesshomaru!” She giggled as he kissed her stomach, then surged to his feet and kissed her again.  
  
      “My god, you are beautiful!” He kissed her again and before she could react, he had flicked the closure on her bra open and her breasts, now full of milk for a baby that, should she rebuff him would never have access to it—spilled free. His nose flared, scenting her milk and she was surprised to see his molten gold eyes rim red for a moment as he gazed hungrily at her breasts. He stepped back after a moment, slightly in control of himself again and unbuckled his belt.  
  
      “Strip.” Kagome complied before she really had a moment to really comprehend his words. Standing naked before him, she felt vulnerable and small, but forced herself to face his slow, hungry perusal of her. When he advanced, backing her up to the bed, Kagome put her arms up to cover herself automatically.  
  
      “Do not hide from me, Kagome. You’re perfect.”  
  
      “Liar,” she shot back quietly. Sesshomaru grabbed her hand and closed it around his hot, pulsating length.  
  
       “I cannot fake this, Kagome,” he assured her through clenched teeth. “Do not shy from me.” He kissed her, lowering her back onto the bed. “Let me in. I want all of your secrets.”  
  
***  
  
      Sesshomaru kissed away her tears later, whimpering inside, sure he’s hurt her. Kagome threaded her finger into his hair and let her eyes drift closed.  
  
      “Why do you cry?” He asked. “Did I hurt you?”  
  
      “No,” she sniffed. “Not at all.” She curled against him, trailing sleepy kisses across his chest. She was silent for so long, he was sure she had fallen asleep. “After Emily died,” she started softly. “James . . . we stopped making love.” Sesshomaru brushed her hair behind her ear and trailed his fingers through the length of it, weighing it in his hands.  
  
      “How long has it been?”  
  
      “Not long enough to really complain, I suppose — almost 3 years.” Her voice grew fainter as she drifted off to sleep. “Thank you.”  
  
      “For what, koi?” He was so tired of hearing her say ‘thank you.’ Sesshomaru vowed to ban that word from her vocabulary unless she was teaching the baby its manners.  
  
      “For making me feel beautiful again,” she murmured.  
  
      ‘There’s hasn’t been a time when you weren’t,’ he thought.  
  
      “Sorry I’m human.” He looked down at her.  
  
     “Why?”  
  
      “You hate humans.” Sesshomaru chuckled, but Kagome was finally asleep.  
  
      “That was a long time ago, koi. I’ve grown up bit since then.’ He lay awake for a long time, watching her sleep, before he too succumbed to oblivion.  
  
***  
  
      Kagome awoke to Sesshomaru rubbing her swollen belly and talking softly to the baby so as not to disturb her.  
  
      “This is the last and only time you’ll be in here. You’re making it very difficult for me to make Mommie happy.” She giggled as he kissed her belly, and he looked up at her, startled to see her awake. Kagome was rewarded by seeing to faint pink spots flash across the demon lord’s face.  
  
      “Good Morning, koi. Or should I say afternoon.”  
  
      Kagome’s languor disappeared in an instant. “Afternoon?!”  
  
      “Yeah, it’s after 3.” Kagome groaned.  
  
       “I’m gonna get fired!” She moaned, reaching for the phone on the table beside the bed. Sesshomaru’s eyebrow rose as he watched her dial.  
  
      “Why? Aren’t you on maternity leave?” She shook her head.  
  
      “No, I’m not. I’m not talking any time off.”  
  
      “What? Why not?”  
  
      Kagome frowned at him. “Because I’m pregnant, not disabled. I worked up until I went into labour with Emily. Why stop now? Nancy! Oh, my God! How screwed am I?”  
  
      ‘Why not indeed?’ he wondered as she gave her secretary the excuse to give their boss and rescheduled meetings she had missed. He watched her talking animatedly to the woman on the other end of the phone, then began rubbing her belly and kissing her. Kagome giggled and pushed him away.  


      “Stop it!” she hissed. “Nothing,” she told Nancy as Sesshomaru heard the woman ask what she was doing. Sesshomaru pulled the sheet down and kissed her the top of her thighs, then moved towards her center, nipping her lightly as he went. Kagome squealed and pushed his head away.

    “Nance, I’ll see you on MonDAY! Sesshomaru!” He took the phone from her.

  
      “Bye, Nancy.” He dropped it back into the cradle, smirking at the delighted giggled from the woman on the other end. He knew she recognized his voice. Kagome smacked him.  
  
      “Why did you do that?”  
  
      “Do what?”  
  
      “What you just did! Kill any and all respect my secretary has for me? Gods!”  
  
      “Oh, I don’t think I killed anything, my sweet. Besides, you were taking entirely too long.” He kissed her nose. “I wanted your undivided attention because you never answered my question last night.” Kagome frowned slightly.  
  
      “Question?”  
  
      “Yes. I want you to consent to be my mate.” He waited while she considered, trailing his claws down her legs. They parted slightly at his unspoken entreaty and she gasped as two of his questing fingers found their way into her center. Kagome was distracted, but tried to focus on his question.  
  
       “Ma—mate?” She gasped, as his hand rotated against her. He kissed her again.  
  
      “Say yes, my sweet.”  
  
      She groaned, tried to squirm away, and gasped as a third digit filled her.  
  
      “Say yes,” Sesshomaru knew he wasn’t being fair, but he didn’t care. Kagome arched off the bed, with a silent gasping shudder. He smiled as she relaxed and opened her eyes.  
  
      “Will you wake me up like that every day?” She asked.  
  
       “Every day.” Her arms slid around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.  
  
       “Then I accept.”  
  
***


	15. Chapter 15

        In the three weeks since their mating, Sesshomaru had contacted his brother and the other Alpha demon lords to inform them of his and Kagome’s new statues and to invite his brother for a visit.   
  
       Kagome as a nervous wreck prior to Inuyasha’s arrival, still fearing despite Sesshomaru’s assurances to the contrary, that the Taisho brothers would start fighting on sight. When their plane landed at O’Hare, Inuyasha disembarked with a tiny blond woman, two college aged boys and a middle school aged girl. The demon brothers traded good natured insults, then Sesshomaru hugged his tiny sister-in-law, and turned to introduce her to a gaping Kagome.  
  
       Her new sister-in-law’s name was Maria[1], she was the youngest daughter of an old, distinguished British family of respectable means, she was 200 years old and was amused by Kagome’s reaction to the brothers.  
  
      “You must have known them in the old days.” Maria guessed. Kagome nodded, amused at the pinched sound of the small woman’s upper-class accent. She looked at Inuyasha. He was smiling at her like a fond older brother. Kagome fell into his arms, relishing a familiar, warm hug.  
  
       “I have missed you, Inuyasha,” she kissed him on the cheek and stood back.  
  
      The three children watched this with interest, looking back and forth between their father and mother and this strange woman, waiting for a reaction from their mother.  
  
      Finally, Inuyasha turned to them and introduced Kagome to his children. Aaron, and Alexander were a year apart, and though just entering college, they were both in their 60s. His daughter Sango, looked to be about 13, but chronologically, she was 22.  
  
      Kagome was delighted to meet them, and soon found the eldest, Aaron’s quiet, watchfulness was the perfect foil for his younger brother, Alexander’s need to always be riding to the rescue. He was like his father in that respect, but as Sesshomaru said, time had tempered Inuyasha’s brash gruffness and cleaned up his mouth exponentially. Sango was moody, as young teens often are, but made an effort to be polite to Kagome. She stayed close to her father most of the time and it was clear to Kagome that she was Daddy’s Little Girl, and she knew it.  
  
       Maria was quiet, too, but Kagome suspected she could be loud if she needed to, and Inuyasha was clearly very well trained.  
  
      “I like Maria,” Kagome told Sesshomaru that night on their way back to her apartment after they had dropped his brother and his family at a hotel.  
  
      “She totally owns Inuyasha, but not in the vaguely evil way Kikyo did. This is different. It’s . . .” she paused, casting about for the right word. “Healthy for him.”  
  
      Sesshomaru grunted. “Their meeting was not under the best of circumstances. From what they have told me, some rather unscrupulous men were trying to attack her when they met.” He glanced at Kagome. “She was trying to fend them off, without much success, so my brother—being the buttinski that he is—jumped in to help her and the rest is history.”  
  
      Kagome laughed, recalling how she had first met the half demon. “Yeah. He does that. I’m happy he’s happy.”  
  
      Sesshomaru glanced at her again. “Truly?  
  
      She nodded. “I’m not in love with Inuyasha, Sesshomaru. I haven’t been for years. Don’t worry.”  
  
      He turned back to the road. “This Sesshomaru does not worry.”  
  
      Kagome laughed. “No, this Sesshomaru just starts referring to Himself in the third person when He gets upset. Relax. You’re my mate. You’re stuck with me.”  
  
      His eyebrow rose. “Indeed.”  
  
      Kagome nodded. “Indeed.”  
  
***  
  
      Kagome’s pain filled cries were quite audible to the collection of demons in the maternity ward waiting room. The humans that were waiting in the room near them didn’t know that the demons were demons, but seemed to sense that they weren’t all they seemed and kept their distance.  
  
      Shippou paced up and down the waiting room fists clenching each time Kagome cried out in pain, while his mate, Miho, Jae-Hwa, and Ayame chatted quietly and Ayame knit. Inuyasha was doing a crossword puzzle with Sango, while Maria talked softy to their sons, and Kouga talked to the other cardinal lords.  
  
      “It just wasn’t done,” the southern lord groused. “In my day, a man waited and chained smoked out here. The nurse came out, announced the brat when it was over and then went away again. Plain and simple. ” Kouga laughed at the old man, and Shippou and Inuyasha glared at him.  
  
     “Sir,” Shippou said tightly, his stress obvious in the borderline rudeness of his tone. “Witnessing the birth of my kits was one of the high points of my life.”  
  
      “Ditto,” Inuyasha turned back to Sango as she pulled at his sleeve.  
  
     “Daddy, you’re not helping me.”  
  
    “Sorry, Princess. Where were we?”  
  
     Kouga nodded in agreement with the others. “And mine as well. Besides, Kagome-chan probably threatened him with the removal of something valuable if he wasn’t in there.”   
  
     Shippou laughed and resumed pacing. “Pervert.” Ayame finished counting stitches and looked up.  
  
     “If Kouga had chosen to sit out my deliveries, I would have been very disappointed.” The southern lord huffed and muttered, then fell silent.  
  
      Kagome let out another high, thin cry of pain and frustration that was audible even to the humans in the waiting room, followed by the low, reassuring rumble of Sesshomaru’s voice, then silence. Everyone froze, not realizing they were holding their breath until they all sighed in relief as a tiny voice cried in offended dignity. Smiles went around the room and Shippou stopped pacing. Inuyasha got up and waited for his brother to emerge from the delivery room.  
  
      A few tense minutes passed, then a dazed and slightly disheveled Sesshomaru came into the waiting room. He stood in the doorway, looking at the group, searching for the anchor of a familiar face. Inuyasha approached and recognition flashed across his older brother’s face.  
  
      “Well?” Inuyasha demanded, his ears twitching with impatience. Sesshomaru stared at him for a minute.  
  
      “I have a daughter. She’s beautiful.” Inuyasha grinned and slapped his sibling on the back, as the rest of the room cheered and clapped.  
  
      “Congratulations, you old bastard.” Sesshomaru leaned on the wall for support, then slid down to the floor, head in his hands. Inuyasha stared in shock at his totally unflappable older brother sobbing like a baby for the first time in his adult life.  
  
     “Ani-ue?” Inuyasha was at a loss. He knelt beside the older demon, his hand resting on his shoulder.  
  
      Shippou looked at the others and pointed at the brothers. “This never happened.”  
  
      He approached the older demon and dangled his handkerchief in front of his face. “Pull yourself together; Mama needs you right now. Go count fingers and toes and talk about names. Don’t come back.”  
  
***  
  
  
[1] In the 1700 and 1800’s, her name would have been pronounced Ma-rye-ah in English speaking countries.


	16. Chapter 16

         It took him a few minutes to get a hold of himself, but Sesshomaru finally went back to his mate’s room. She was sleeping, and the baby was supposed to be in the bassinet beside the bed. Instead, she was soon lying in her mother’s arms, with her father squeezed into the bed with them, his arms around them both. The nurse would have a fit if she came in and saw him, but Sesshomaru was beyond caring.  
  
         He smiled down at her and ran his finger along his daughter’s tiny, chubby cheek. She yawned, stretching the jagged blue stripe that adorned her little face. Kagome giggled and Sesshomaru looked at his mate fondly.  
  
      “She needs a name,” he said softly, trying not to disturb his little princess.  
  
      “I’ve always liked Misaki,” Kagome offered, still half asleep. “I’m so tired.”  
  
      “I know. Both of my girls worked hard. Sleep; I’ll be here.” He kissed Kagome on the cheek as her eyes drifted shut. The newly dubbed Misaki’s eyes opened and her molten yellow gaze searched the ceiling for a moment, then her tiny nose twitched and her eyes drifted towards Sesshomaru.  
  
      “Hello, my little beauty,” he whispered. “You don’t know it yet, or maybe you do, but you are going to be spoiled rotten.”  
  
      “No, she’s not,” Kagome’s voice was thick with sleep.  
  
      ‘Oh yes, she will. I am your slave, Little One,’ he thought.  
  
      Misaki smiled slightly, or maybe she was passing gas and it was grimace, but she seemed pleased as she too drifted off to sleep.  
  
***  
  
      Sesshomaru was dozing himself when the door opened and his brother and Shippou slipped into the room. Sensing them, Sesshomaru’s grip tightened around Kagome and Misaki, and he growled low. Inuyasha froze, then slowly moved closer to his brother.  
  
      “Ani-ue—it’s me—Inuyasha and Shippou.” He waited a second and his brother relaxed and they came closer, quietly shutting the door behind them.  
  
     “They’re sleeping,” Sesshomaru told them, sitting up. His arm was asleep. He flexed it, and winced at the pins and needles sensation and then the pain in his fingers as the blood flow resumed. “What time is it?”  
  
      “After 3,” Inuyasha said, checking his watch. “But I wanted to see my niece now.”  
  
      He knelt down beside the bed to see her better in the faint light from the street light outside the window. Misaki’s tiny head was covered with thin black hair and the two jagged blue stripes on her cheeks were like her grandfather’s. Inuyasha could see the faint magenta lines across her eyelids. He leaned forward to kiss her, his brain memorizing her scent. At first, all he could smell was Kagome and his brother, then he caught her scent and sat back, his brain marking her as Pack.  
  
      “What’s her name?” He asked softly.  
  
      “Misaki,” Sesshomaru rose from the bed, taking care not to jostle his mate. Inuyasha smiled.  
  
     “First time parents shouldn’t be allowed to name babies.” Sesshomaru gave his brother a sardonic look.  
  
      “Even you?”  
  
      “Oh, no. Maria wanted to name the boys after her father and grandfather. No thought was involved on my part all. It was perfect.” Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, biting back a snide comment and so did Shippou, but only just. The fox pushed the hanyou aside to get a better look at his ‘little sister.’  
  
      “She’s beautiful. Just try resisting the temptation to spoil her.”  
  
      Sesshomaru glared at the younger demon. “And why should I listen to you, kitsune?”  
  
      “Because for once, I’m the sempai here, kohai.” The door opened again and Souta’s head appeared.  
  
      “Inuyasha?” He called softly, seeing the familiar triangular ears silhouetted by the window.  
  
      “Shhh. Come in before the nurse sees you.” Souta slipped in, softly shutting the door. He came to the bed, started at seeing Sesshomaru, then looked down at his sleeping sister.  
  
      "Mom’s at the hotel. She’s totally wiped out from the flight. I’ll bring her by later on today.” Kagome frowned and opened her eyes. Sesshomaru leaned down to nuzzle her and she giggled.  
  
     “How do you feel?”  
  
      “Sore,” She blinked myopically at the three males crowded at the foot of her bed, then looked down at Misaki. It took a moment, but her brain reengaged, registering who they were. “Shippou, Souta, Inuyasha,” she looked at each of them in turn. “What are you doing in here?”  
  
      Souta moved to his sister’s side. “I just got in about 45 minutes ago. I dropped off Mom and came right here. A cute redhead in the waiting room told me where to go after she gave me the good news. I told you it’d be a girl.”  
  
     Kagome smiled at her little brother. “Yeah, you did. Misaki.”  
  
      Souta scooped her up. “A pretty name for a pretty girl. Hi, I’m Uncle Souta.” Inuyasha and Shippou crowed closer and Kagome laughed. Sesshomaru watched impassively as the three laughed as Misaki’s little nose twitched furiously, her brain trying to place their scents. They all smelled similar to her parents, so her brain stored them as Pack, but they all had so many different smells on them she didn’t know, especially Souta. She sniffed him furiously, eliciting another round of low, delighted male laughter.  
  
      Sesshomaru looked down at his mate. Kagome was watching them like a hawk, though he knew she wasn’t concerned with them mishandling or being rough with Misaki since they were veteran parents themselves. But he was pleased to see she was so attentive.  
  
      Souta finally tore his gaze from the baby who was still sniffing him furiously. “’Nee-san, Mom wants to know if you are ever coming back to Japan?”  
  
      “As soon the doctor gives Kagome and Misaki the green light to travel, I intend to return home,” Sesshomaru declared haughtily. Souta looked at Kagome, who rolled her eyes. He grinned.  
  
      “It will be months before you can take her out of the country, Ani-ue,” Inuyasha told him. “She has a battery of shots to get and she’ll need a passport.” Sesshomaru’s gaze flew to the newborn.  
  
      “She’s an infant.” Inuyasha laughed at the look on his brother’s face.  
  
      “Actually, she’ll need two; she’s an American because she was born here and Kagome was naturalized not long after she came for school. Because you both have Japanese citizenship as well, she is too. So, she’ll need a Japanese passport, too.”  
  
     Sesshomaru huffed in annoyance, his plans for a speedy return going up in tangle of bureaucratic red tape.  
  
      “For the love of God.”  
  
      Shippou shrugged. “It’s the difference between a maternal and a paternal citizenship country. All the kids have two passports for just that reason.”  
  
     Sesshomaru rubbed the bridge of his nose and huffed again. Kagome was glad. She wasn’t ready to leave Chicago or her job just yet. She took Misaki back and settled down to nurse while Shippou, Inuyasha and Souta ignored her, and began trading documentation horror stories. Sesshomaru smelled Kagome’s milk and immediately returned to her side to watch his daughter eat her first meal.  
  
      He tuned out the others, fascinated with watching Misaki. She didn’t drink much, but when she let go of Kagome’s nipple, there was an audible pop. He smiled and Kagome lay back and dozed lightly. Misaki fell asleep as well, and the room was quiet even with the three males talking in the corner. Sesshomaru zoned out as well, as was nearly asleep when four watches simultaneously beeped the 6 o’clock hour and the silence was further shattered by the noisy, flurried arrival of the morning nursing shift to disrupt all the patients that had just fallen asleep.  
  
      The nurse scolded all the men out of the room, and took Misaki and put her in the bassinet, so that she could take Kagome’s blood pressure, which was up from being startled awake.  
  
      “It’s time for your daughter to eat,” she told Kagome. The miko yawned.  
  
     “I fed her an hour ago. She’s about do for a diaper change, though. The nurse nodded and started to take her out.  
  
      “Have you thought of a name yet?” She asked, as Sesshomaru invited himself back in. He took Kagome’s hand.  
  
      “Misaki,” he said.  
  
      “Elizabeth,” Kagome added suddenly. Sesshomaru frowned at her. “She’s an American, whether you like it or not,” Kagome hissed at him in Japanese. The nurse pulled out her pen.  
  
      “Spell Misaki and Elizabeth with a “z,” right?”  
  
***


	17. Chapter 17

     When Misaki Elizabeth Taisho was a month old, all the cardinal demon lords got together to accompany Sesshomaru and Kagome to the Shinto temple, to present the baby to the gods. Kagome and James had done the same thing for Emily, so Kagome didn’t think it was odd, and was actually looking forward to the occasion. The priests and mikos at the temple were used to seeing her, so Kagome anticipated no issues.  
  
      Kagome carefully dressed her new daughter for the occasion in a loose sea foam green kimono, and Sesshomaru unearthed his old clothes. Kagome chose something more modern, but with a similar colour and pattern to Sesshomaru’s. Her mother, Maria, and the other ladies choose conservative formal kimonos in blues and deep greens, and so did Inuyasha. He had chosen a much toned down, traditional grey kimono and black hakama with the family chests on the front, back and sleeves. His sons were dressed similarly. Once everyone was ready, the line of limos that pulled up in front of the temple resembled a funeral, but for the gaily clad occupants they discharged onto the temple steps.  
  
      When they arrived in the temple courtyard, Kagome was shocked to see the kannushi or head priest and a line of equally perplexed mikos blocking their egress. She looked at Sesshomaru, then down at her daughter, who was sleeping in her carrier, oblivious.  
  
      “What’s going on?” She asked, as the silence dragged on. The priest looked at Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, Shippou and then back at Kagome.  
  
      “This is holy ground.” Sesshomaru’s eyes narrowed in annoyance and Kagome put her hand on his arm to forestall his words.  
  
      “I know,” she said, holding up the baby. “My daughter is a month old today.” The kannushi glanced at Misaki and gasped.  
  
      “Mrs. Thomas—”  
  
      “Taisho,” Kagome corrected. “I’m remarried.” His eyes flicked back to Sesshomaru, then back to Kagome.  
  
      “Mrs. Taisho, you are attempting to enter holy ground with a phalanx of . . . demons!”  
  
       “Demon lords,” Shippou corrected helpfully and Inuyasha chuckled. Kagome groaned as the teenaged mikos behind the kannushi began whispering to each other.  
  
      “Yes, I know. Look, this really won’t take that long. . .”  
  
       “No!” The kannushi was firm. Annoyed, Kagome allowed her power to flare, stirring Sesshomaru’s unbound hair and the scattered leaves the mikos had missed while they were sweeping.  
  
      “Look, I just want to get my daughter blessed. Is that too much to ask? Because if so, I can come back in 2 ½ months, when she 100 days old, but it really can’t be later than that.”  
  
      The kannushi stared at Kagome. “You . . . you’re a miko?!”  
  
      “I am.” He looked at the pink waves curling like ethereal smoke around her and Misaki and brushing Sesshomaru’s arm without purifying him.  
  
      “You . . . actually have the power of the gods in you,” the kannushi persisted.  
  
      “I carry some holy power within me, yes.” She was getting irritated, but the rest of their guests were having a high time. It wasn’t often you got a presentation and a show. Even Sesshomaru was beginning to be a bit diverted by all this, since he could feel his mate’s growing annoyance.  
  
      The kannushi gaped at her, incredulous. “Yet you consort with demons?”  
  
     “Demon lords,” Shippou corrected again, and Inuyasha snorted. Miho hit Shippou with her fan, and Maria did the same to Inuyasha.  
  
     “Look,” Kagome asked with forced patients. “Will you please perform the blessing for my daughter? We could have come and gone already in the time it’s taking to talk about this.”  
  
      He glanced down at Misaki again, then at Kagome. “Is the baby a hanyou or a human?”  
  
      “My daughter,” Sesshomaru’s voice was full of smug ‘my boys can swim!’ masculine pride. “Is a full Taiyoukin. You will perform the blessing.”  
  
      Kagome rolled her eyes at his tone and Inuyasha suppressed the smile that tugged at him as he remembered holding his oldest son, Aaron for the first time. The horrors of the Second World War were finally starting to pass, and here was his first bright light in decades. He’d been so proud of him, and Alexander’s birth the following year was just the icing on the cake. He glanced back at the boys. Aaron was standing straight and serious behind his mother, and Alexander was watching his new aunt, ready to jump in if the situation required it. After all, he was human, and if the kannushi really objected that much to the demons being in the temple, then he and his siblings could take little Misaki in.  
  
      The kannushi looked once more at the motley crew of well-dressed humans and demon lords standing on the steps, and at the miko glowing like a nuclear reactor and sighed.  
  
     “Very well. Let’s get this over with. It will take weeks to get the temple cleansed,” he grumbled. Kagome singed him as she passed.  
  
      “We just want to use the courtyard, not enter the body of the temple.” They all remained on the public side of the white shimenawa rope, which was there to separate the Sacred from the Profane, therefore not defiling anything. The kannushi gave Kagome a dirty look.  
  
      Finally, Misaki got blessed and as they left the temple, all of the lords stopped to toss wads of hundred dollar bills into the offering boxes as they passed. Kagome was mortified and the kannushi was nearly blue with rage and impotent frustration by the time they all filed out. He couldn’t very well open all of the offering boxes just to pull out what, in one day, amounted to the temple’s entire annual offering income, just because of who donated it.   
  
      Once they had all driven away, he told the eldest miko to close the temple for the rest of the day, and with a frustrated scream, he marched into the shrine to mediate.  
  
***


	18. Chapter 18

2016, Japan  
  
                    Misaki was over a year old before her parents were finally able to get back to Japan. When Misaki was 4 months old, her tiny, razor sharp fangs started coming in and Kagome discovered to her consternation that her sweet looking baby was a biter. Sesshomaru was highly amused, but Kagome was not, and Misaki immediately went on bottle food, which meant her father could share more fully in her nightly care routine. That he didn’t think was very funny.  
  
        Jaken had been keeping Sesshomaru’s house in good order, awaiting his return. He was not so thrilled to see Kagome, but had grown slightly more tactful in his old age and remained sequestered in his office while the housekeeper let them in. Sesshomaru was anxious to show Kagome the rooms he’d set up for Misaki, and hurried up the stairs ahead of her to open the door.  
  
       Kagome, recalling Shippou’s descriptions of walls of toys and books, thought she was ready for what she saw when he opened the door, but words absolutely failed. One couldn’t walk for the toys and stuffed animals, books, trains, and dolls. Kagome closed the door and marched back down the hall to glare at her mate.  
  
      “Sesshomaru, what . . . was . . . that!?”  
  
      He had the grace to look embarrassed. “I had to do something. You were 6,000 miles away, I never saw you,” he blushed. “And I thought I was going to be raising . . .” He glanced at Misaki who was cooing and burrowing around Kagome’s breasts looking for milk, though she hadn’t breast fed in over 9 months. Kagome bounced her up and pulled out a pacifier for her to chew on.  
  
      “I thought I’d be alone.” His voice was low. Kagome nodded.  
  
      “Shippou told me you wanted to prove you can provide a home for her.” The blush darkened.  
  
      “For both of you, actually. Come here.” He led her past the master bedroom to the door beside it. “This was to be your room.” He pushed the door open stepped aside.  
  
      “Oh,” Kagome nodded and slowly entered the room.  
  
      The room was dominated by a huge four poster bed with a white lace canopy. To the right of the door was a sitting room with overstuffed burgundy and gold furniture and two built in floor to ceiling bookcases, full of leather bound books. On the opposite side of the room was a huge bath room with green marble countertops, double sinks, a double sized jetted tub and Jacuzzi. The connecting door next to the sitting room led in the master bedroom, but the lock was on her side of the door. They shared the room-sized walk in closet.  
  
      Kagome walked slowly through the suite, touching the furniture, running her fingers over the books. Finally, she turned to him.  
  
       “This was my room?” She asked, incredulous. He nodded.  
  
      “It still is, if you want it.”  
  
      “Oh,” she said again, and looked over the room again. He waited, while Misaki babbled nonsense in English and Japanese. “It’s beautiful,” Kagome said at last. He smiled.  
  
      “Good.” She held up her hand.  
  
       “I’ll only sleep in here if I’m mad at you, ok?” Sesshomaru smiled and crossed the room in three strides, hugging both of his girls to him. Misaki squeaked in protest, then giggled. He leaned down and kissed Kagome.  
  
      “Then I will make sure you never sleep in here.”  
  
      “Pretty words.” She started to kiss him back when Jaken appeared in the door way.  
  
      “Sesshomaru-sama, I am pleased to see that you have returned at long last with the Princess.” Sesshomaru sighed and turned to face his tiny, long suffering retainer.  
  
      “Indeed. I have brought another girl child for you to look after.”  
  
      Jaken hurmped. “I am not as young as I used to be, my lord.” His eyes flicked over Kagome. “Miko.”  
  
      Sesshomaru snarled at the smaller demon for his rudeness and Misaki whimpered, having never heard that sound from her father before.  
  
      “The Lady Kagome has been this Sesshomaru’s mate for over a 12 month. I believe you were informed of that. You will speak to the Lady of the house with more respect.”  
  
      Jaken bowed and departed silently, leaning heavily on his cane and Kagome felt sorry for the little guy.  
  
      “Sesshomaru, just how old is Jaken?”  
  
      “I have no idea,” her mate said dismissively.  
  
      “Well, it would behoove you to find out. It might be time for the little guy to start collecting his pension and relaxing in the tropics.” Sesshomaru looked after the toad demon.  
  
      “Kagome, he cannot assume human form, and therefore cannot travel much beyond my lands without the chance of meeting a most unfortunate end. He is safer here.”  
  
       “Oh.” Kagome was thoughtful for a moment, then put Misaki on the floor. The baby took off on her knees at lightning speed, and disappeared under the giant bed.  
  
      “Now,” Kagome turned to Sesshomaru. “Where did you propose in that junk room to put a crib?”  
  
***  
  
2024, Japan  
  
  
  
        Misaki ran down the hall to her parents’ room and pushed the door open. They were asleep, so she crawled onto the bed and waited. They were lying spooned, Sesshomaru behind Kagome on the right side of the bed, his arm around her, protective even in his sleep.  
  
       ‘How can she sleep like that without suffocating?’ Misaki wondered, shaking her head, then dismissed the thought.    
  
       “Mama, Chichi-ue. Mama. Wake up.” She shook them both, and Sesshomaru reluctantly opened one eye.  
  
      “Shh. Mama needs her rest. Go back to bed.”  
  
     “No.” Misaki crawled up behind him and draped herself over his left shoulder so she was directly beside his ear. “Today’s the first day of Council and I want to go.”  
  
      Sesshomaru groaned. ‘I hate the Council.’  
  
      “Besides,” she went on. “I discovered I can do something cool!” Sesshomaru sat up since Misaki wasn’t going to let him go back to sleep. He rubbed his eyes and brushed his long hair back, stifling a yawn.  
  
      “And what have you discovered?” Misaki grinned and hopped off the bed. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Kagome opened her eyes as the jaki in the room rose. She turned over and gave her husband a bleary eyed glance.  
  
      “Koi?” He was staring at Misaki, and he was completely awake now. Normally, dog demons are born in their inu form and didn’t turn to a more human form until they were pre-teens, and had more control of their power. Because Kagome was a human, Sesshomaru had assumed correctly that Misaki would be born in her human form. She was his Heir because she was a full demon, but she would never be an Alpha because she wouldn’t be able to transform.  
  
      Kagome sat up with difficulty, as she was 6 ½ months pregnant with their second child.  
  
      “Koi, what’s — Oh! Misaki!”  
  
      Sesshomaru slid out of the bed and walked slowly over to his daughter. Misaki bounced in place, excited that she could achieve her true form. She’s seen her father transform once and had been incredibly jealous that she could not.  
  
      “Kagome, koi, do you realize what this means?”  
  
      Kagome nodded. Sesshomaru hugged Misaki around her massive neck, since, at the size of an adult Newfoundland, she was far too large to be lifted by his human body. Her heavy black tail thumped against the bed.  
  
      “Turn back,” he told her, stepping back and Misaki complied, dropping to her knees, panting.  
  
     “That’s so hard,” she gasped, clearly excited. “But I discovered I could I could do that this morning and I just had to show—” she fainted into her father’s arms. Kagome tried to get up.  
  
      “My baby!”  
  
      Sesshomaru put his daughter on the bed and leaned over her to nuzzle Kagome.  
  
     “She’s alright. Since Inus are usually born in that form, it is easier to transform into a smaller human body. To do what Misaki has done takes a lot of energy.”  
  
      Kagome didn’t look completely convinced. “Will she wake up soon?”  
  
       Sesshomaru looked proudly at his daughter. “I hope so. Oh, Kagome. This means that she’s an Alpha, and will therefore take my place on the Council one day. We have to start looking for a mate for her.”  
  
      Kagome positively stared. “This? From you? No, Sesshomaru; let her pick her own mate.”  
  
      Sesshomaru brushed his daughter’s hair off of her face. “Oh, she can pick him, but he will have to be Alpha class as well. Hmm. I know Anubis just had another son—”  
  
      Kagome snorted and stood up. “That playboy? No way. Don’t get me wrong, he’s handsome alright, but—”  
  
      Sesshomaru frowned at her words. “Not him. His son. But he’s still a baby, so it doesn’t matter.”  
  
      “Jae-Hwa is engaged to a baby.” Kagome countered.  
  
     “He’s 13, hardly a baby.”  
  
      “According to you that’s a baby. Misaki is 8, and therefore still a baby as well. Leave it alone. That is a worry that is, quite literally, centuries away.”  
  
      Before he could respond, Misaki opened her eyes, and Sesshomaru smiled. “Hi, Princess. How do you feel?”  
  
      “Like my legs are made of Jell-O.”  
  
      He nodded once. “You’ll live. Go get dressed.”  
  
      “Yes, sir!” She slid forward and stood gingerly, holding the edge of the bed until the feeling returned to her limbs, then she sprinted back to her room. Kagome watched her, shaking her head in jealous amusement.  
  
     “Ah, for the indestructability and quick recoveries of youth.” She waddled into the bathroom, Sesshomaru at her heels.  
  
***


	19. Chapter 19

             Because Sesshomaru decided that Kagome needed help with her shower, the couple was late for breakfast, and by extension, late for the opening sessions of the Council. Sesshomaru marched into the room via the main door and took his seat on the dais beside Jae-Hwa, was if nothing was amiss, disrupting the southern lord’s peroration.  
  
       Jae-Hwa’s elegantly penciled eyebrow rose in amusement.  
  
       “Lord Sesshomaru, I see you finally decided to grace us with your presence.”  
  
      “I had something to take care of.” Jae-Hwa shook her head and sighed. Everything about him reeked of self-satisfied, conquering male. The southern lord was still frowning at Sesshomaru from the podium.  
  
      “Where is your mate, Lord Sesshomaru?” He didn’t even try to keep the contempt out of his voice. The dog demon closed his eyes for a moment, listening.  
  
     “My sister Maria and Princess Ayame seem to have ambushed her in the hallway.” He paused again, then smiled. “They are squealing about the baby.”  
  
     “She’s pregnant again?” The old demon demanded.  
  
      Sesshomaru shrugged. “So? The Princess is 8, why not?”  
  
      The southern lord grunted. “Yes. About the miko. While we are . . . grateful . . . to her for providing you with a much needed Heir, a child of Pure Blood would ensure the continuation of your line.”  
  
      Sesshomaru’s eyebrow shot up. “Pure Blood?”  
  
      The door opened and the women in the hallway spilled into the room in a noisy push, Misaki beside her mother. Sesshomaru stood.  
  
      “Misaki, come here.”  
  
     “Hai, Chichi-ue!” Misaki hurried across the room, and stood before him.  
  
      “How do you feel?” he asked softly. Misaki smiled.  
  
     “A little tired,” she admitted. He nodded.  
  
     “Do you think you can show the Council what you showed Mama and I this morning?” Misaki’s face lit with joy.  
  
     “Yes!” She closed her eyes and faster than that morning, she shifted into her full demon form. Inuyasha, standing to give Kagome his seat in the overcrowded room, swore in surprise.  
  
      “Well, there’s your Pure Blood,” he smirked at the old man who was gaping at Misaki in shock.  
  
      “How? It . . . cannot be! She’s an Alpha?!”  
  
      “As you see. The first Alpha female born to my line since my own Lady Mother, more than 2,000 years ago.” He placed a gentle hand on his daughter’s massive head. “Change back, Princess.” She did, and Inuyasha moved to carry her back to her mother, as she was clearly too spent to walk. Sesshomaru looked over the silent room.  
  
      “With the proper training from me, my daughter will one day be my equal in power.”  
  
      Jae-Hwa was trying not to squirm in her glee. She took a deep breath to calm her excitement. “Mina-sama, we have time, but an Alpha male should be found for the Princess Misaki. However, it is hardly pressing, as she will not be ready to mate before she is at least 800 years old.”  
  
      Kagome blanched. She had been half joking that morning about Misaki’s marriage being centuries off, but clearly she had been speaking the truth. She looked down at her sleeping child.  
  
     ‘800 years old! My God! I’ll be long dead before she’s even out of her childhood!’ Sesshomaru seemed to sense the shift in his mate’s mood and cocked his head curiously at his brother, who was kneeling beside Kagome. Inuyasha caught his brother’s look, then turned to look at his sister.  
  
      “Kagome, are you alright?”  
  
      She nodded. “It . . . my baby’s going to outlive me. By a lot.” Inuyasha turned furious eyes on his brother, still speaking to Kagome. “Did the Idiot not explain about the mating marks?”  
  
      Kagome shook her head. He stared at her. “Did you take any of his blood?” Head shake. “Oh, Lord! Come with me.” He took Misaki and helped Kagome to her feet, escorting both females into the hallway, shooting his older sibling a dirty look. In the hall, Inuyasha turned Kagome to face him.  
  
      “I asked you; did you take any of his blood when he marked you?” Kagome shook her head.  
  
      “No! He’s tried to force me a couple of times, but that’s gross!”  
  
      Inuyasha heaved a long suffering sigh. “Kagome, he’s trying to help you. You must take some of his blood. It will slow your aging to match his. He’s trying to keep you alive, girl.”  
  
      Kagome looked chagrined. “Oh. He never said.”  
  
      Inuyasha closed his eyes in exasperation. “Hotoni baka.”  
  
      “No, he’s not.” Kagome was mortified at how childishly peeved she sounded. “He . . . Sesshomaru . . . He doesn’t love me. So that’s probably why he’s never really pushed the issue.”  
  
      Inuyasha pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Kagome, my brother may not be as . . . forthcoming as he ought to be with his feelings, but he has been in love with you for almost as long as I’ve known you. You—”  
  
      “And he told you this?” Kagome demanded, interrupting the hanyou.  
  
      “He didn’t have to. Kagome, after our battle with Naraku, and you suddenly disappeared, he beat the sh—” he glanced down at Misaki.  
  
      “Beat me up trying to get me to tell him where you’d gone. I knew, of course, but I couldn’t tell him, and the well wouldn’t let me pass through. He told me I was lying and keeping you from him. That said it all for me. I had no reason to believe I’d actually still be alive now. I knew he would be. I told him to wait, that he’d find you, and I told the idiot to look after you. He needs your sweet spontaneity. I’m spontaneous enough for 10 people; or so the missus tells me.”  
  
      Kagome chuckled in agreement. “Well, he found me. But he still doesn’t love me.”  
  
      Inuyasha made a face. “Do you love him?” Kagome began to cry.  
  
      “So much it hurts.”  
  
      “Have you told him that?”  
  
      “I can’t. He loves Misaki, and he will love this baby, and that will be enough.”  
  
      “Really?” Inuyasha was incredulous.  
  
      “It must be. I’m human for God’s sake! Now, in 500 years, he’s clearly learned to tolerate humans, but asking for more than that is just greedy.”  
  
      “Then be greedy.” Kagome jumped, startled as Sesshomaru wrapped his arms around her, placing a gentle hand over the bulk of the baby.    
  
       “Inuyasha! You knew he was there, didn’t you?!”  
  
      “Um . . .” He began backing away. Her eyes narrowed.  
  
      “You’re still wearing the kotodama no nenju, aren’t you?” she asked coldly.  
  
       “Kagome, please! I’m not as young as I used to be!” Franticly, he turned panicked, pleading eyes to his brother. Sesshomaru took pity on the younger demon.  
  
      “Koi, ignore him.” He waved his brother away, and Inuyasha fled. As long as he was out of earshot, the rosary wouldn’t work, and after 500 years, he wasn’t relishing kissing the floor or the resulting damage to the building.  
  
***  
  
      “And you! Eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves!”  
  
      “Sometimes,” Sesshomaru conceded. “But I hate it when you’re alone with other males, even my brother. Yours is okay, but not mine.” He kissed her neck.  
  
      “I do love you. I don’t know why you think I don’t. But I’ll just have to spend more time convincing you otherwise.”  
  
      She stood silently for a moment. “Is the meeting over?”  
  
      “No. But I don’t care. Jae-Hwa will let me know if they try something stupid.” Leaving a still sleeping Misaki with her older cousins, the Lord and Lady of the West went home.  
  
      All the staff except Jaken ignored their unexpectedly early arrival. He stood watching them ascend the stairs, then returned to his office to reject a dinner invitation from Jae-Hwa.  
  
      “Is anything wrong?” she asked. “They left here so early.” Jaken took the phone into the hallway. Sesshomaru’s voice always seemed to carry, and after a few seconds, Jaken heard Jae-Hwa giggle. He returned to his office.  
  
      “So that’s why he left early. Very well, we can reschedule. Misaki is with Inuyasha.”  
  
      Jaken thanked her, and called Inuyasha. “We’ll find clothes for her,” Inuyasha assured the small demon. “Should I bring her back in the morning, or later in the afternoon?”  
  
      Jaken tried to ignore the staff giggling in the hallway. “In the afternoon.”  
  
      Inuyasha laughed. “Can do. Later.”  
  
      Jaken hung up and sighed. There were no females like him at all. The females of his species were still basically animals. They couldn’t talk, walk upright—nothing. Jaken couldn’t understand how he alone had made that evolutionary leap, but even as comparatively advanced as he was, he couldn’t take human form. Because of this, he had long ago resigned himself to a solitary life; he would never have a mate or a family of his own. But sometimes, that reality was hard to face. When Sesshomaru was single, it wasn’t so bad. The dog demon had an occasional rut, but nothing lasting. Now that he was mated . . .    
  
      Jaken looked at his desk, piled high with invitations, unopened mail and household bills.  
  
      “Well, a kappa’s work is never done.” He sat down, grudgingly grateful to Kagome for having an office set commissioned that suited his size. It was a very nice dark oak with inlay carving and a matching overstuffed chair. The top was lacquered, with a pair of white mother of pearl dog demons. Of course, it had been ages since he’d actually seen the desk top.  
  
       More noise drifted down the stairs, and Jaken put on his headphones and set his mp3 player for a jazz loop. There was nothing like a little Billy Holiday to clear the mind.  
  
***


	20. Chapter 20

        “Uncle, where did Chichi-ue rush Mama off too?” Misaki asked that night, sitting in the living room of her uncle’s Tokyo home.  
  
      Sango, sitting near-by, began giggling, and Inuyasha flushed.  
  
      “A . . . very . . . special meeting.” He hedged.  
  
      The child’s eyes narrowed. “They went back to the house to have sex, didn’t they?” Sango lost it completely, and had to leave the room. Inuyasha nodded, and Misaki sighed.  
  
      “They do that a lot. So what’s Aunt making for dinner?”  
  
***  
  
      Kagome was still reluctant to take Sesshomaru’s blood, but after they made love, as he often had in the past, he offered her his wrist. He was shocked and pleased when she took it. With one razor sharp claw, he made a small cut across a vein and pressed it to her lips. Kagome could feel her throat closing as her mouth filled with the thick, metallic tasting liquid. But she forced herself to swallow. Pleased, Sesshomaru pulled his arm away. Kagome looked slightly green.  
  
      “Now what?” He leaned over and kissed her.  
  
      “It’s not instantaneous, my love. The effects take time, and you will have to repeat this process a few more times.” She sighed and sat up.  
  
      “We need to get back.”  
  
      Sesshomaru sat up and looked at his mate. “To the council? Forget it. We need to talk about us. Clearly, my intentions are not being conveyed, and I want no more misunderstandings like today.”  
  
      Kagome resumed her place on the bed. “Fine. Tell me about Lord Sesshomaru.”  
  
***  
  
      The last months of her pregnancy were at best, uneventful. Kagome continued working, and Sesshomaru began training Misaki. At first, transforming was difficult, and stressful for the girl, so her father made her stay in her demon form at home. For a chatty Cathy like Misaki, being in her demon form was frustrating. She was forced to learn other ways to communicate since only her father could understand her.  
  
      Still, by the time Kagome went into labour, Misaki was finding her transformations less taxing on her energy, and she was enjoying being able to run for miles without being tired.  
  
      When Kagome went to the hospital, the demon council again gathered to verify her delivery.  
  
      “He needs a son,” the southern lord declared. Everyone frowned at him for a moment, then most resumed the busy work they had brought along. Jae-Hwa, however, was always willing to argue with the querulous old man.  
  
      “No, he doesn’t.” She disagreed. “I think another girl would do him a world of good.”  
  
      “Hmm. All these females are making him soft.” Inuyasha rolled his eyes.  
  
      "I have two sons. The last thing we need is more males in this family.” Various heads bobbed in assent, and he continued.  
  
      “Long centuries have we gone with no females in our line. A race dies without its women.”  
  
      The southern lord grunted. “I disagree. I have 8 sons and 15 grandsons.”  
  
      “Right.” Inuyasha shifted a sleeping Misaki to wake up his arm. “And how many of those 23 have mates?”  
  
     “2 sons,” was the instant reply.  
  
      “Exactly. You have 21 idle males waiting and hoping for a woman to manifest fully formed from the forehead of Zeus.” Everyone except Misaki who was still sleeping and the southern lord laughed. “You have to have females, sir.”  
  
      Just then, Sesshomaru practically bounced into the room. “It’s a girl!” He announced proudly. Inuyasha smiled.  
  
     “And?”  
  
     “She has my markings. And no hair.” He grinned at his brother. “We have good genes.” Inuyasha chuckled.  
  
     “The old grouch was hoping for a boy.”  
  
     Sesshomaru looked genuinely confused for a moment. “Why? You know what—never mind. I don’t care. Misaki?”  
  
      The girl opened her eyes. “Chichi-ue?”  
  
      “Come here.” Inuyasha put her down, and she ran over to her father. “You have a little sister to play with.”  
  
     “Yeah!” Misaki cheered. “Can I see her? What’s her name?”  
  
      “Well, we haven’t come up with a name yet. Maybe you can help.”  
  
      “Kaede.” She said instantly. Inuyasha and Shippou gasped. Sesshomaru gave them a quizzical look.  
  
      "Kikyo’s sister—” Inuyasha whispered.  
  
      “The elderly miko?” Sesshomaru had a vague memory of the old woman being respectable and looking after Rin a time or two. The other two nodded. He looked at his eldest daughter. “I think Mama would like that very much. Come, let’s go tell her the baby’s name.”  
  
     Kagome was half asleep when Sesshomaru finally returned with Misaki.  
  
      “Mama?” She half whispered. “I saw the baby. And I know what we should call her.”  
  
      Kagome reluctantly opened her eyes. “Oh, you do?”  
  
      “Yes. Kaede. I like that name.” Kagome smiled.  
  
      “Wonderful. I like that name, too.” Misaki beamed, delighted. The door opened and the night nurse came in with baby Kaede.  
  
      “Guess who’s hungry?” The woman soon departed, and Sesshomaru stood back, trying to observe his family objectively.  
  
      ‘I have a beautiful mate, two daughters, and a home. Hell, I even get along with my stupid brother.’  
  
      So many long years ago, InuTaisho had asked his teenaged son if he had someone to protect, and even though he had initially brushed aside the question, over the centuries, his father’s words often came back to him.  
  
      ‘Well, Father, how the mighty have indeed fallen. I must protect them; they are precious to me. I tried, but I couldn’t save Rin from time, but I’ll be dammed if I will lose them.’  
  
      Kagome looked up from studying Kaede’s now sleepy face. “I think Kaede is going to have your hair, koi.”  
  
      Sesshomaru came over to the bed, and sat down, pulling Misaki into his lap. He smoothed down his eldest’s dark braids.  
  
      “I hope so, I’m starting to feel left out.” Misaki looked up at his touch.  
  
      “When can I play with Kaede-chan, Chichi-ue?”  
  
      “It will be a few months, Princess, but soon.”  
  
      “How many months?” she persisted.  
  
      “5 or 6.” Misaki yawned and frowned at the same time.  
  
      “Can she turn into a puppy too, Chichi-ue?”  
  
      “I don’t know yet. We will have to wait and see,” he answered honestly, and the child nodded.  
  
     “Well, if she can’t, I’m big enough for her to ride, so we can still have fun.” Both girls soon drifted off to sleep, their parents sharing a smile over their heads.  
  
     “Thank you.” Sesshomaru’s low voice broke the peaceful silence.  
  
     “For?” Kagome shifted the baby, who whimpered in protest, but kept sleeping.  
  
      “Everything. Our home, our girls. For putting up with me. For loving me—everything.”  
  
     “Well, it wasn’t hard,” Kagome smiled. “But I’m done with this baby thing, got it?”  
  
     He chuckled. “Okay. But you will find that your figure will come back a little bit quicker than last time.”  
  
      “Your blood?” Kagome asked, incredulous.  
  
      “Hai.”  
  
     “Hmmm. You know, if you had explained it to me instead of my having to hear it from Inuyasha, that would have been better.  
  
     Sesshomaru had the courtesy to look embarrassed. “I’m sorry, my dear. I thought you knew. But I am gratified that you will be staying with me.”  
  
     “I love you, too.”  
  
      He leaned over Misaki and kissed his mate. “Good.”  
  
***


	21. Chapter 21

_Mama, Chichi-ue:_  
  
 _How’s the tropics? I can’t wait for you two to get back from vacation. Kaede is driving me crazy and Ichi keeps telling me I’m his woman. I don’t know who taught him his ‘wooing’ skills, but he needs to go back to school! I told him I was going to tell, but he didn’t believe me. I hope Chichi-ue breaks his legs when you return._  
  
 _About Kaede. Since she began training to be a miko, the staff is terrified of her and she keeps threatening to purify me. As if! She couldn’t purify a fingerprint off a glass wall with soap and water._  
  
 _Poor Jaken is at the end of his short rope with us and spends entirely too much time locked in his office. I know almost all his jazz records by heart. Maybe Chichi-ue should consider letting the little guy retire. He’s bloody well earned it. Maybe set him up with a nice, childfree house in the country. He’d love that._  
  
 _I hope you’re having lots of fun and not trying to find me a mate. Speaking of mates, Lord Anubis called again. He wants to know if Mama is bored of your stuffiness, Chichi-ue. He said he has an immediate opening in his harem. I hope he’s joking._  
  
 _I gotta go. I’ve got Trig homework and Uncle wants Kaede and I over for dinner. Later._  
  
  
  
  
  
 _Misaki_  
  
  
  
  
  
 _Misaki is telling lies about me. And I like Ichi, Daddy. Don’t hurt him. Bring me back lots of stuff and nothing for Misaki cause she’s a doodoo head!’ Love ‘ya._  
  
  
  
 _Kaede_  
  
  
  
  
  
     Kagome laughed and laid the letter aside. “I’m glad we left them at home.”  
  
     “Me too.” Sesshomaru came back to the bed with two full champagne glasses. “I love them both, and I fully intend to break at least one of Ichi’s legs when we get back. And Anubis’ neck.”  
  
    Kagome took her glass. “Well, he came by his ‘charm’ honestly.” She didn’t specify which ‘him.’  
  
    “Hmm.” Sesshomaru kissed his mate with relish, tasting the wine on her lips. “Forget them for now.”  
  
    “Who?” Kagome set aside her glass, tugging at the towel around her mate’s waist. “Too many clothes.”  
  
    “I totally agree.”  
  
***

THE END

  
  
  
Thanks for reading!  
  
ChibiMethos 2007


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